Sit Still Look Pretty
by topsyturvyday
Summary: Edward leaves, Bella struggles until she doesn't. A story of the battle of an almost adult thrust into the unknown. Rated M just to be safe!
1. Edward

Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.

typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)

_

 _1_ _Edward_

The day after my birthday felt like the calm before the storm, I pulled into the school car park in my beat up red truck my hand throbbing under the dressing where the stitches held the cuts together. The first thing that set me on edge was that none of the Cullen's vehicles were here, not even Edward's Volvo; it was normal for some of the siblings to skip school to go on hunting trips but they usually tried to keep up appearances by a couple of them attending when others didn't.

I hadn't told anyone it was my birthday yesterday so when Angela and Jessica had balloons waiting for me at my locker I flushed red and tried my best to shush them before the out of tune happy birthday song started.  
"How did you know?" I asked after thanking them awkwardly.  
"Your Dad can't keep anything quiet, you're lucky the rest of our year isn't here serenading you!" Jessica said, always with a hint of jealousy. Classic Jess, classic Charlie.

"So tell us, how'd last night go? Oh my God what happened to you hand?" Angela's eyes bugged out of her head when she saw my hand.  
"It was nothing I slipped and cut my hand, Carlisle was there so he stitched it up." I shrugged as if it was nothing, leaving out the part about me almost becoming vampire chow.  
"Well how was the rest of the party? Did Edward get you something amazing? Where is it?" Jessica asked with both enthusiasm and jealousy.

"Oh uh, the party was fine we just had dinner; my hand kind of cut the festivities short though." I shrugged wanting to change the subject, Jessica looked thrilled that I hadn't received anything from Edward.

The bell rang, signaling class starting saving me from more awkward conversation with Jessica but Angela and I had the same class first up, English. We walked in a comfortable silence, neither needing to make mindless chatter to fill the air both giving the other a smile as we took our seats on opposite sides of the room.

I spent the rest of the school day wishing and hoping that Edward, Emmett, Alice or even Rosalie of all people would walk through the door and save me from the everyday teenager. Mike had managed to ask me out twice more before the final bell rang dismissing us and I couldn't get out of there fast enough, someone had taken it upon themselves to pop the balloons that stood by my locker first thing this morning which resulted in them laying in a crumpled heap in front of it instead; they kind of mirrored my soul right now, crumpled on the floor in the corner. Not seeing Edward at school had left me feeling on edge, things had been tense when we parted ways the night before but he wouldn't just up and leave on a hunting trip would he? I'd like the think not.

My questions were answered when I pulled back into Charlie's driveway, the truck crunching over the gravel as it came to a halt. I hadn't turned the engine off before Edward was stood there holding the door open for me.  
"Hi," I greeted him not wanting to give away how his lack of presence had affected me today.  
"Afternoon, Bella." He greeted somewhat coldly, his eyes were a vibrant amber which meant he'd been out feeding.  
"Jessica and Angela bought me balloons today." I told him, taking his hand as I climbed down from the truck.  
"That was nice of them," he released my hand and carried my bag inside for me, but things still felt off.  
"Did you want to go for a walk through the woods?" He asked once my bag was on the counter.  
"Through the woods?" He nodded.  
"Isn't it dangerous for clumsy people to go trudging through the woods?" I laughed away my awkwardness.  
"We won't go far, c'mon." He motioned for me to follow him out the back door. "Charlie will be home soon, you might want to leave him a note." He suggested.  
"I thought we weren't going far?" I asked as a scribbled a note to Charlie leaving it on top of my bag.

"We're not, but he worked early this morning."

We walked for five or so minutes in an awkward silence, my hand throbbed as a rude reminder of what had happened the night before. Edward looked down at it as if he could feel it throbbing too.  
"Did you all go hunting today?" I asked breaking the silence.  
"Yeah, the rest of us met up with Jasper and Alice after last night." He answered as awkwardly as the silence had felt.  
"Oh." I had nothing else to say.  
"Look Bella, we're leaving." He said pulling my hand so I turned to look at him, stopping mid step.

"Oh. Where are we going?" I asked confused, he knew I had school.  
"Not you, Bella. We're leaving." He stated again, firmer.  
"We?" I could feel my frown growing deeper as I processed his words. "You're leaving me." He nodded.  
"Do you not want me?" I felt my face fall and his hardened.  
"We're leaving." He repeated for the third time.  
"Well, I'll come with you!" I pleaded.  
"You can't Bella, it's not safe for you."  
"Edward, walking out the front door is dangerous for me. Please, Edward you _make_ my life safer!"  
"Last night would never have happened if I hadn't brought you to the house, Bella." He frowned, not looking me in the eye.  
"You don't want me." I repeated again. "Am I not good enough for you Edward?" I felt the tears as they started to pool.  
"No." Was his only response, I felt the world around me start to crumple.  
"Please, Edward you can't _do_ this!" The tears started to fall down my face, so I let them.  
"You'll be better off with out me Bella, you'll be fine." He was so cold, as if he didn't care at all.  
"Better off? You've got to be kidding me!" I must have been yelling loud enough for the entire town to hear me.  
"Fine. You can't come with us because you're human Bella; you can't stay with us because you aren't like us. You're not good enough, it's not worth it." He spat in a way I'd never seen him speak, I took an involuntary step backwards.

 _You're not good enough, not worth it._ The words repeated in my head as I struggled to find the words to respond.  
"We're leaving Bella, don't try and follow us; not that you could anyway." He spat the last words as if they were venomous and just like that he turned and walked further into the woods, away from me, and everything we had.

Ignoring his instructions not to follow, I stumbled through the leaves, mud and branches; vision blurred by the tears flooding my face, hands numb from the cold it wasn't long before it started to poor with rain. Soaked to the bone I had no sense of direction and the further I walked the deeper into the woods I stumbled, between my body tremors and the tears it was impossible to think, to find a way out; the path was rapidly being washed away by the rain as it fell harder. I tripped, falling face down into a mud puddle; I lurched backward as the cold mud hit my face any strength I'd had at the beginning of the day was gone. What was the point after all, _I wasn't worth it._

So I stayed there soaking wet and numb to the core wishing for death.

_

There we have the first chapter! Pretty basic but give it time, I promise it'll be good! :)  
drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!

xx


	2. Bella

Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.

typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)

 _2_ _Bella_

"Angela dear, you should go and get some rest." A motherly voice encouraged.  
"No I'm fine, really! I want to be here when she wakes up!" Angela, possibly the nicest human on the planet.  
"She had quite the fight out in the woods, she'll still be here tomorrow as well." The voice I recognized as my mother's; but what was Renee doing in Forks?  
"Honestly, I'd much rather stay Mrs. Dwyer." Angela pleaded.  
"At least go and get yourself something to eat sweetheart." Renee encouraged.

I groaned, as I began to stir; my head felt like someone had taken to it with a lead pipe and my left arm was stiff with the IV jammed into the elbow. Opening my eyes I was met with bright white hospital lights, causing me to immediately slam them closed again.  
"Bella! Bella can you hear me?" Angela had sprung from the chair she sat in and was grasping at my non-bandaged hand.

I groaned again, opening my eyes slower this time; scanning the room for the one person I knew wouldn't be there.  
"Edward?" I asked, the look on Angela's face was the only answer I needed and just like that I was in tears again.  
"Oh Bell, I'm so sorry." Renee tried to console me, the most parenting she had ever done in her life.

I think I cried for at least a week straight, Angela sat in that uncomfortable hospital chair next to the uncomfortable hospital bed the entire time. Charlie came past a couple of times but it was hard for him to see his little girl like this, Charlie; why didn't I think about him through any of this? Things were tense between him and Renee too; I think they were fighting over me just like old times right. The doctors had refused to take the drip out of my arm because I'd refused to eat since waking up. My stomach felt as hollow as the rest of me as I refused the food once more.

Once I worked out that eating meant I could go home, the IV very quickly came out of my arm, by then the stitches had been taken out of my hand too leaving me with another scar that could remind me of my time with the Cullen's; and the time I no longer had which only lead to another wave of tears. Charlie took me home when they discharged me, he helped me into the house and up to my room which felt oddly cold.  
"Did you want something to eat, Bells?" Charlie offered, hovering in the doorway.  
"Thanks Dad, but I think I'll just sleep." He nodded and slinked away awkwardly.

What no one knew was that when I slept, I saw Edward, the Cullen's and the life I was no longer going to have. I mean, the fact that I woke up screaming every night was probably a hint but I didn't tell anyone. Angela's visits went from daily to weekly to stopping all together. Renee came back about a month after _he_ left to try and convince me to come back to Phoenix with her.  
"Bell, the sunshine will do you good." She argued.  
"No." I had said.  
"Bell, come on lovey; Phil and I have a nice place there now. You need to get out of this town." She argued further.  
"No. I'm not going." I spat, from buried under the covers. What if _they_ came back?  
"He's gone Bell, you need to get out."  
"NO. NO. NO. NO." I screamed on repeat stopping her from arguing further and that was Charlie walked into that evening.

"Bells? Bells!" He called from the front door and then he was stood in the doorway, panicked and out of breath. "What's going on Bells? Talk to me, what's wrong?" He panted through raspy breaths.  
"I was just saying, it might be good for her to come visit Phil and I in Phoenix. Get out of town for a while." Renee defended herself.  
"Like hell she's going, you didn't want her with you up there before!" He huffed placing his hands on his hips. "Over my dead body." He grumbled, scowling at his ex-wife.  
"This place is killing her Charlie, just look at her!" Renee gestured to me, curled up in the fetal position under the covers, hair splayed out in every direction, tears stained my face, pillow and bedding.  
" _He_ did this! Not Forks, there was nothing wrong with Forks before!" Charlie argued back, annoyed. "Get out."  
"What?" Renee was gob smacked, Charlie had never had a backbone before.  
"You heard me, out." He ordered stepping aside and gesturing her down the stairs.  
"Bella, get up." Renee tried once more.  
"Renee, out." He ordered in his Police Chief voice.

After Renee had been escorted downstairs Charlie later returned with a glass of water and a plate with two pieces of toast that had been butchered by the butter knife.  
"Eat." He ordered extending the plate to me. "She's right you know Bells." I sat up awkwardly, pulling the covers with me.  
"This place is killing you Bells. Maybe you should get away for a little while." With elbows resting on his knees he rubbed at his forehead as if trying to rub away a headache.  
"You want me to go?" I felt tears flood my eyes again thinking of the exact words _he_ had used.  
"No, no, baby no!" He tried to assure me. "I just think some air might be good for you, maybe you'd like to stay with Jake and Billy down at La Push?" He'd said it like a question but his eyes were begging me to agree; so agree I did.

An hour later we were sat in the police cruiser as Charlie headed for Billy's. The car ride was a silent one aside from Charlie's occasional sigh; there wasn't much to see on the half an hour drive especially in the dark. We arrived and Charlie honked his horn, seconds later Billy was wheeled out onto the porch by Jacob who waved at us erratically.  
"C'mon Bells, this will be good for you." Charlie tried to reassure grabbing my bag from the backseat and that was my cue to get out too.

We weren't even through the door before Billy was offering Charlie a beer, he declined politely he had the early shift in the morning and was just dropping me off. Jacob took the bag from Charlie and darted through the front door again, Charlie gave me an awkward one-arm hug that was just as awkwardly reciprocated before he extended his hand to Billy, thanking him for taking me in for a couple of days. He had been right, the air felt oddly fresher down here.

The next morning I was being shaken awake roughly, opening my eyes too early I saw spots; once they cleared I was met with Jacob's face way too close to my own.  
"Bella!" He whisper yelled at me.  
"What?" I groaned back, pushing his face away from mine.  
"You were screaming," he frowned, confused.  
"I do that, you get used to it." I shrugged as best I could from under the covers before rolling over face down into the pillow that tasted like salt, shocker.

When I woke for the second time that morning it was because of the laughter in the kitchen that didn't sound like Jacob or Billy, instead of investigating I went straight for the shower instead. Even over the sound of the screeching pipes through the bathroom wall, the laughter could _still_ be heard; once dressed I decided to enter the kitchen. There stood too _huge_ native men both stood at least two heads taller than Jacob with muscles the size of watermelons bursting from both arms, they stood with their arms folded as they leant against the cupboards while Jacob and Billy sat at the table.  
"Bella!" Jacob yelled once he noticed me.  
"I'm standing right here, no need to yell." I huffed, rubbing my head; one of the men smirked while the other looked less impressed than I did about me being here.  
"Bella, this here is Sam Uley and his less happy friend is Paul" Billy introduced us. "Fella's this here is Charlie Swan's daughter." I didn't miss the look that Billy gave both boys.  
"Pleasure," I said turning to lean against the doorframe. The one Billy had introduced as Paul scoffed which earned him Sam's palm colliding with the back of his head.  
"Ouch what the hell?!" He turned to him enraged.  
"Play nice." He ordered, something about them both seemed familiar but I couldn't place either of them.  
"How's your hand?" Sam asked, I looked down at both puzzled. "You had stitches in one when we found you, didn't you?" He attempted to refresh my memory.  
"You found me?" I didn't remember anything after _he_ left me until I woke in the hospital.  
"Yeah, we found you half dead. You're welcome." Paul huffed before knocking a chair out of the way as he passed through the front door.  
"Ignore him, he has anger issues." Jacob piped up which earned him a glare from Billy.  
"Well uh, thanks" I turned to Sam and flushed red.  
"We're going out to the cliffs later, you two should come; if you want" Sam offered with a shrug before saying his goodbyes to Billy.

Later on when neither Billy nor Jacob were paying attention, I took it upon myself to head down to the beach; the air had a certain chill about it so heading out I leggings and a t-shirt wasn't the best idea. The stones were cold under my feet some of them pricking at my feet as I walked as far from Billy's as I could in hopes that I wouldn't be spotted, the wind whipped my hair around my face swirling about in mini tornado on my face. At the end of the beach near the base of the cliffs I guessed Sam was talking about, sat a sturdy piece of driftwood, washed white from being beaten by the tide; sitting down I watched the waves crash into the cliffside every time the tide went out I inhaled deeply and when they crashed against the cliffs I exhaled. I hadn't breathed so deep in weeks, not since _he_ left. I felt the tears pool at my eyelids again, blurring the waves and that was when I heard it.

"YAAAAAHOOOOOO!" Came a holler from above before a tanned figured crashed into the waves as the tide went out once more.  
"Cowabungaaaaaaa!" Came the second cry as another body plummeted to the ocean, both ran out of the ocean together in nothing but a pair of cut off jean shorts.  
The third body to fall made no noise as he fell from the heavens landing in the smoothest of splashes, when he ran out of the water I recognized him as Sam, the other two boys I hadn't met yet.  
"Hey Bella!" He greeted with a grin that could blind someone.  
"Hi Sam," I greeted back, suddenly aware of how cold it was.  
"You should think about a jacket next time," he laughed, I shrugged. "Did you want to come up the top?" He asked, but I shook my head.  
"I think my butt's frozen to this log anyway," I laughed but it felt foreign.  
"Well if you get unstuck you know where we are." He laughed and headed back up the cliff.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!

xx


	3. Isabella

Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.

typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)

 _3_ _Isabella_

"Here," a gruff voice huffed from behind before I was hit with something soft.

Turning around, there was a blanket heaped behind me on the stones and the voice belonged to Paul.  
"Thanks." I said and he barked a laugh. "Something funny?" I frowned wrapping the blanket over my shoulders.  
"You do know how to thank people, wasn't sure" He shrugged sitting down beside me.  
"Would you go jump off that cliff or something?" I huffed which only made him laugh.

"Nah I'm good."  
"I don't remember you know, or I would thank whoever found me." I said meekly, he shrugged. We sat in silence as the boys fell from the cliff tops again and again each yelling a new catchphrase every jump, with the exception of Sam who jumped silently.

"So why aren't you up there?" I asked breaking my gaze from the crashing waves.  
"I'm on _Bella duty_ " Paul rolled his eyes.  
"You're babysitting." I frowned, looking back out to the ocean.  
"Or ' _Paul get her a blanket so she doesn't catch pneumonia_ ' as it's more fondly called." He was mocking someone with air quotation marks.  
"Guess I'm pneumonia free so far, A for effort." Paul barked another laugh.

"You need a drink, Bella." Paul spoke, breaking the silence again.

"I don't drink, I'm underage." I frowned, kicking at the pebbles with my toes.  
"We should get out of here." He stood extending a hand to me.  
"Where would we go?" I raised my hand before hesitating.  
"I told you, you need a drink. I know a place." He reached down, grabbing my hand with a roll of his eyes.  
"Paul, Charlie's a cop I can't drink!"  
"Seriously Bella, you really are the life of the party. You're at Billy's not Charlie's you'll be fine." Paul pulled me through the streets of La Push, what little streets there was; before we stopped at the dingiest place on the whole of the Quileute land.

Paul knocked three times as hard as humanly possible without breaking a hole through the door before the door swung open and cigarette smoke flooded out of the room.  
"Pauly!" The heavily overweight man at the door greeted him with a fist to the shoulder. "Oooooooh Pauly's got a lady!" He called over his shoulder to the rest of the room receiving hollers and wolf whistles.  
"It's not like that Randy, she doesn't drink but she _needs a drink_ " Paul nudged past Randy pulling me inside, it smelt like sweat and beer; gross.

"Right, what'll it be?" Randy had stumbled behind the bar stopping where Paul had sat me down.  
"I'll have the usual and uh, give her a vodka and lemonade." Paul swooped around the room greeting everyone with handshakes before coming to stand by my elbow again.  
"One with the lot and one vodka and lemonade!" Randy slid the drinks down the bar.

At first I just stared at mine as it sat in front of me, there were plenty of kids I went to school with that drank on the weekends, stole from their parents liquor cabinets but that wasn't me, was it?  
"Drink it, you'll feel better about it." Paul encouraged, I suddenly realised I didn't even know the guy that stood at my elbow; could I even trust him? But then I thought of _him_ again, _you're not good enough, not worth it, don't follow us Bella._ I raised the glass to my lips, Paul's eyes were very much on me and it felt like the whole room was moving in slow motion. I took the first sip from the glass and that's when he appeared, on the other side of the bar; teeth bared, face as stony as I remembered him. So I sipped again and he became clearer. _Please, tell me it was all a bad dream._ I begged, leaning in for another sip.

" _Bella, what are you doing?" Edward snarled at me._ Sip.  
 _"Bella, think about what you're doing." He begged._ Hah, like I begged him to stay; Sip.  
 _"Isabella you're being ridiculous." he snarled louder._ Ridiculous? I'll give him ridiculous.

"You saw him, didn't you?" Paul asked as I placed the empty glass back on the counter.  
"How did you..?"  
"You looked like you'd seen a ghost and Randy's not that terrifying. But you're not crying."  
"Yet," I finished his sentence whether it needed finishing or not, he rolled his eyes; reaching over the bar and wrapping his hand around the bottle of vodka he grabbed his glass and mine nodding for me to follow.

We sat outside Randy's occasionally Paul would slosh a bit more vodka into each glass but we mostly stayed silent.  
"Do you see him now?" He asked, I'd shake my head no and then he'd poor more vodka downing his in seconds; I'd take longer.

The sky darkened the longer we sat there, I enjoyed the silence more than anything every so often we'd hear a glass break from inside or one of the bar goers would erupt into louder laughter than necessary. The sky was completely dark by the time we stood to go home, I swayed and Paul informed me it was only eight as he steadied me.  
"Remember when you said I needed _a_ drink?" I giggled, what?  
"Yeah okay, got a bit carried away. But how do you feel?" He returned the glasses and almost empty bottle to Randy which earned a couple of cuss words from the man himself.  
"I feel floaty, should I feel floaty?" He laughed as he guided me down the stairs and headed back down the streets we'd taken to get here.  
"That's what the youth of today calls tipsy Bella."  
"Oh." Was all I could say as I focused on one foot in front of the other.  
"I could carry you if you like?" He offered and I tensed; there in the middle of the road stood Edward again.

 _"Isabella, what have you become?_ " _He hissed._  
Paul continued leading me down the street, I wobbled as we got closer to Edward.  
 _"Isabella, this is not who you are." It was as if I could reach out and grab him.  
_ Paul tugged on my arm pulling me back to reality and just like that Edward was gone.  
"Bella, did you hear me?"  
"What? No it's fine I'll walk." We only made it the next street over before we ran into trouble.

"Bella!" Both Paul and I froze at the sound of Jacob's voice.  
"Ah shit." Paul cussed which made me giggle – when have I ever giggled in my life?

"Bella!" Jacob caught up to us, bent in half and out of breath.  
"Jakey boy, isn't it past your bed time?" Paul guffawed and Jacob scowled at him.  
"Everyone's been out looking for Bella, Sam and Billy are _pissed_."  
"Ah fuck." Paul cussed again making me giggle again.  
"Bella?" Jacob was confused. "Bella, what's wrong with you?"  
"I'm fine," I lied leaning into Paul avoiding eye contact with Jacob.

Paul snaked his arm around my waist, I tensed but Jacob was scowling too deeply at Paul's arm to notice.  
"What the hell Paul?" Jacob snarled.  
"Go home Jacob, Bella's fine. She said so herself." Jacob stood rooted in place as Paul pulled me forward his hand felt like it was burning through my clothes and setting my skin on fire but that could have just been the vodka; or the fact that I was used to the equivalent of ice blocks holding me in place.  
When we made it back to Billy's he was parked on the porch as Sam paced a hole in their front yard.  
"Bella!" Billy cried from the porch.  
"Paul!" Sam snarled stopping in place.  
"She's fine." Paul defended before anyone else said anything.  
"You call _that_ fine?" Sam growled, ouch. "I asked you to look after her Paul!"  
"Yeah, well maybe you shouldn't have!" He snapped back.  
"She's underage, Paul!" Sam continued, "You couldn't just leave her be could you?"  
"It's not like I took her to bed Sam, Jesus Christ!" I flushed red turning my face in the opposite direction of Billy which just happened to be Paul's chest.  
"Shut up now, both of you." I mumbled into Paul's chest hoping that by some miracle they'd both hear me.

"Got it," he laughed smugly. Twisting me around, he swept an arm under my legs and carried me past Sam and into the house.  
"We'll continue this later." Sam called.  
"Sit on it and rotate, Sam." Paul huffed back.

The next morning when I woke up my head throbbed and for once it wasn't because of the tears I'd cried the night before. Damn you vodka. Fumbling my way into the kitchen I found Billy sat there looking quite smug while I continued searching for the painkillers.  
"At least now you've found out what a hang over is too." He laughed.  
"Not funny." I huffed, after swallowing two with a glass of water.

"I'm quite sure this isn't what your Dad had in mind when he sent you down here." Billy frowned, I shrugged.  
"You've upset Jacob, you know." Again, I shrugged.  
"Bells, this isn't you." Billy frowned.  
"What is me anymore, Billy hmm?"  
"Isabella, enough of that. Cut the crap." I straightened up at the use of my full name.  
"That boy has adored you since he could talk; you had your heart crushed by a piece of shit vampire we get it. But getting drunk with the local bad boy is not your solution. Find another one."  
"What did you say?" I placed the glass back on the bench.  
"No more getting drunk?" Billy frowned confused.  
"Before that." I said, and what he said dawned on him.  
"Ah shit."

For the first time in my entire existence, I turned away and I _ran._ Billy called my name from his kitchen but I just kept running, by the time I reached the beach I had slowed my pace to a walk and by the time I'd made it to the cliff top I might as well have been crawling. Collapsing face up, I stared at the clouds watching as they shifted shape and place in the sky.  
 _Billy knew about the Cullen's._  
My head continued to spin, because of the hangover and the new information I'd just received.  
 _Who else had been lying to me? What else didn't I know? Why didn't Alice see Edward leaving me in the woods? Why didn't anyone care?  
_ Tears blurred my vision once more and I didn't notice the red eyed fiend that was creeping up on me until he was stood above me; shimmering slightly.  
"Oh Jesus Christ, just kill me already." I huffed, having already been chased by two nomadic vampires before; one who is still MIA, the one that stood above me didn't even phase me in the slightest.

"And what is such a pretty little thing doing with so much sadness?" Of course this vampire was no exception to any other, perfectly chiseled facial features, everything about him was perfect; shocker.  
"Don't you people ever just kill without flare?"  
"Kill, who says I'm going to kill you?" The vampire seemed amused at me, great.  
"That's the whole point of vampires is it not?" I was annoyed, why for the love of God was it always me?  
"Perhaps, however you're quite the character. Tell me, what is your name?" He tilted his head to the side and the limited sun bounced off his cheek sending a shimmer through the air.  
"B-" I paused. Bella was weak; Bella was left behind. Bella _wasn't good enough._ "Isabella." Bella was what _Edward_ called me.  
"Isabella," He was cut off by a howl the pierced the air. "On that note, I must be off. Come back here tomorrow and perhaps I'll do the same." And just like that he was gone.

drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!

xx


	4. Dimitri

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

4 Dimitri

I must have fallen asleep on the cliff top because next thing I knew I was being thrown over someone's shoulder as they descended the cliffside. His feet crunched over the gravel which went from the gravel cliffside to the pebbles of the La Push beach front.  
"Put me _down_!" I huffed pounding on his back, which felt more like punching a brick wall in all honesty.  
"Fine," he grumbled and then I was falling backwards.  
The landing was far softer than I expected, cushions; on the beach? My vision blurred for what felt like the millionth time and I saw stars until they cleared and I was met with Paul's smug face.  
"Why are you so _obsessed_ with me?" I huffed again folding my arms over my chest, very aware of the vulnerable position I'd been left in.  
"Don't flatter yourself doll," he scoffed.

"Right, whatever. Why are we here anyway?"  
"Bonfire." He pointed further up the beach towards Jacob's house where people were setting up for what looked like a party.  
"Uh huh. And I'm here _because_?" I asked again.  
"I said, _bonfire._ "  
"Right, well you have fun with that; I'll just be sat here."  
"Seriously?" He asked.  
"Yup."  
"Always the life of the party, Swan." He huffed falling into the pillows beside me.  
"What are you doing?" Sam grumbled coming over to where I laid with my arms still crossed.  
"Nothing." I defended before Paul could.  
"Paul," Sam warned.  
"He's babysitting poor Bella, making sure she doesn't run into anymore vampires." I snapped, Paul and Sam both growled when I said vampire; oh jeez.  
"Please tell me you both didn't just _growl_ at me!" I wasn't sure if I should laugh or get _more_ annoyed than I was already, Paul and Sam both just shrugged it off.

The bonfire started with Billy throwing a lit torch onto the stack of driftwood they'd all been collecting, the Clearwater's were there as well as Jacob and some of his friends I'd seen but never met, Sam and who I assumed was his girlfriend or whatever, a couple of the other boys that I'd watched cliff dive the day before as well as a handful of giggling native girls. Jacob was still avoiding me, not even trying to make eye contact with me; they laughed and hollered some of the younger looking boys even had a football they were throwing high above the bonfire while some of the older boys wrestled a good distance from the flames. Paul and I lay in silence, faces turned up to the oddly clear sky; stars winked at us from above and if you'd looked close enough you might even have caught the shooting star that shot past. The moon was almost full and the brightest yellow I'd ever seen, and for the first time in well over a month that I'd felt even an inch of serenity.

The air grew colder the longer we laid there, still in silence Paul sat up before reaching behind him and throwing a blanket over my right side with zero effort needed he reached around and pulled it round to cover my left too. We stayed in silence until I felt myself drifting into dreamland where I found myself dreaming of a pair of soul piercing red eyes instead of the last encounter I had had with Edward. Those red eyes started off at the tree line, slowly edging closer until the ruby eyes settled on the chiseled face I had only met briefly. No words were exchanged in the dream, I found myself stood in a perfectly round field where the grass was trimmed short and snow danced from the sky; the vampire bore holes into my head where his haunting gaze landed. I didn't feel the need to run, to scream or cry for help; the vampires presence was oddly soothing, drawing me in further. I waited for the bite, for him to lurch forward and sink his teeth into my neck; I waited for my scream to pierce the air but it never came, and then I woke to daylight breaking over the shore.

Paul and others were still asleep when I sat up, everyone was sprawled in various positions along the beach buried in blankets entwined with each other. I stood as quietly as I could, heading back to Billy's in desperate need of a shower as my thoughts were consumed by that of the red eyed fiend that guest starred in my dream last night; I didn't even notice Billy sat at the table as I walked through the front door and straight for the bathroom.  
"Bella?" Billy called but I'd shut the bathroom door already.  
 _Avoid at all costs_ , I thought.  
When I emerged again, Billy had vanished; I got changed and dried off my hair as best I could there was a phone number scrawled in perfect handwriting pinned to my pillow, I took it stuffing the crumbled paper into my pocket before heading out the door. Dressed more appropriately today I chose jeans and a forest green sweater. I walked through the car park instead of trudging over the sleeping and stirring bodies on the beach, from my view at the cliff top I could spot everyone still sprawled along the beach front; everyone except Paul who had vanished too. I stepped back choosing to perch on a rock that sat in the shade of a big leafy tree that hung low, pulling out the piece of paper in my hand I ran my fingers over each individual number; I fumbled for my phone punching the numbers in, it rang twice.  
"This better be good." The voice growled over the phone, angry.  
"Uh.." I stammered.  
"Oh! The little human I presume!" He spoke with such class.  
"Um, yes?" I managed, he laughed deep.  
"Your friends are making it quite the challenge to get back to those cliff tops, perhaps you'd fancy an adventure?"  
"Uh, sure?" Ladies and gentlemen, a woman of many words; yours truly!  
"Good, hold tight then."

And then we were running, well, _he_ was running; through the forest in the direction I assumed was Forks the sound of footsteps chased us so he gripped me tighter. I kept my eyes open, when Edward ran with me I always buried my face in his neck; motion sickness.  
 _"Bella…." Speak of the devil, he ran beside us. "Love, please." He begged._  
I gripped tighter, we ran for what felt like hours after the other footsteps faded quickly and the vampire slowed loosening his hold on me slightly. We stopped just outside of Port Angeles where he lowered me to the ground, keeping a hand on my arm to steady me but it wasn't needed.  
"You've done this before," he noted, frowning.  
"Something like that." I laughed, awkwardly of course.

"The Cullen's I presume?" He asked, tugging me forward into the streets of Port Angeles.  
"You know them?"  
"Everyone does, apparently even humans too." He scoffed sending me a sideways glance.  
"Oh, right. Yeah well they're not here anymore." I stated, indifferently.  
"Obviously," he scoffed again. "Come along little one, we're late." He pulled me along faster as we strolled down the street to an out of place hotel.  
"Late for what? Where are we going?" I panted slightly out of breath.  
"Sh, my master is waiting for us." He ushered me into a lift before hitting the top most button.

"Your master? _Who are you?_ " Suddenly I felt fear, fear that I hadn't felt since Edward had left me in the woods.  
"I am Dimitri Volturi." Dimitri Volturi, why did Volturi sound so familiar?

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	5. Aro

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

 _5\. Aro_

It didn't matter for much longer as Dimitri was pushing me through the door I was met with three more red-eyed vampires two of which hissed when we walked through the door, the third stood stoically in the centre of the room flanked by one of the hissing vampires, a girl probably in her mid twenties with jet black hair that flowed to her waist no taller than Alice had stood. The other vampire was a boy who looked to be no older than fourteen with jet black hair that stuck to his forehead, my interest however; was peaked on the man stood in the middle of the room, it was then that I realised why I recognised the name Volturi. The man in front of us was one of the three faces that stood above Carlisle's desk we spoke briefly about the three faces as he'd stitched my hand on the fateful night of my birthday. Aro, Caius and Marcus effectively the rulers of the vampire world they collected vampires with special talents and were often left to clean up vampire messes including disposing of humans that knew about them; _shit_. I tensed visibly and Dimitri only placed his hand on my back pushing me further into the room.

"Dimitri, my boy!" Aro's voice mimicked that of thunder, Dimitri bowed his head slightly before offering his hand to Aro's.

The room appeared to freeze in time as Aro placed his on top of Dimitri, as if he were listening to words we could not hear.  
"Interesting," Aro mused, after what felt like a decade.

"You must be Isabella," Aro turned his gaze to me, extending a hand; I just looked at it. "Come on child, we don't bite" he chuckled to himself as if he'd made a joke.  
Giving in, I extended my hand to meet his and immediately his expression changed to one of no emotion.  
"Hmm," he stated after seconds. "Interesting, Alec would you mind?" Aro waved a hand from the boy, Alec to me and a soft sort of smoke began to creep from the boys feet over towards mine only when it reached me, it continued straight on as if I hadn't even been standing there at all. " _Very interesting_!" Aro clapped his hands together and beamed a smile not too similar to that of a child on Christmas day.  
"Master?" Alec questioned, a look of confusion on his face.  
"It would appear that our dear Isabella is _immune_! Already!" Already? Were they not done?  
"Come child, we must chat." Aro waited for nothing as he leaned forward pulling me to the two chairs that sat opposite each other. "Alec you can go and feed if you like, we will likely be here a while." He said, brushing Alec away with a flick of his hand.

Straight to the point, Aro began asking questions about my time with the Cullen's.  
"So tell me Isabella, who was it that told you about our kind?" Aro placed his hands in front of him, leaning forward each fingertip meeting perfectly.  
"Um, they're not going to be in any kind of trouble are they? I mean none of them really _told_ me, I kind of worked it out." I fumbled, thinking back to when I'd first met Edward in biology.  
"You _figured_ it out?" Aro chuckled, amused. "There will be no trouble until after I return to my brothers, then we must take action."  
"Well they were different to everyone else." I shrugged, as if it were obvious.  
"So someone is different and you immediately think _vampire_?" Aro chuckled again this time turning to the vampire that stood at his elbow as if encouraging her to laugh too.  
"I'm not stupid alright, they didn't come to school when they sun was out, they ordered food in the cafeteria only to push it all the way round the trays before dumping it all at the end of lunch, they didn't compete in sports, touching their skin was the equivalent of sticking your hand to the side of the freezer. Their eyes were different, sometimes golden amber sometimes pitch black. _That's not normal._ " I huffed, folding my arms.  
"You really do know quite a lot don't you, my sweet child." He mused with a slight glint in his eye.  
"Yes. I do. I know that Carlisle sired Edward in 1918 after his mother died from Spanish Influenza. He sired Esme in 1921 after she lost her child and attempted suicide. In 1933 he sired Rosalie and in 1935 she carried Emmett over a hundred miles back to Carlisle so he too could sire him. Alice and Jasper joined their coven sometime in the 50s completing what you would call their coven but they call a family. Jasper and Rosalie go by the surname Hale in school so they don't all wear the Cullen name because y'know, incest. Edward is the only lone vampire in a house full of mates, he almost killed me several times, once having to suck venom out of me after I'd been bitten by a nomadic vampire who thought chasing me would be a fun game," I waved my wrist so the scar James had left behind glittered in the light.  
"He stopped you from turning?" I nodded.  
"Did I miss anything out? Oh yeah, Edward read minds, Alice has visions and Jasper feels emotions and can project them so you feel different than you actually do; this makes him the most bloodlust filled of the seven of them because he feels all their bloodlust too." Aro seemed a both shocked and intrigued at that theory – which lets face it, I'd only just thought up, but it made sense. "Oh and then there was the time that Jasper tried to eat me which resulted in Edward was finished with his play thing because I was human, telling me I was unworthy of their company, I wasn't good enough and then he left me alone in the woods where I nearly died of hypothermia." No tears. I made it through the shortest version of the story possible and I still had no tears; that was a first.

"The boy abandoned you in a forest?" yes, I nodded.  
"Knowing how much of our world you knew of? He left you _alone_?" Aro repeated as if her were processing this. "Well I suppose its up to me to once again clean up the mess. Are you ready Isabella?" I shot out of the chair, panicked.  
"Ready?" I squeaked.  
"You can thank your precious Edward once you're changed." He spat as if he were a bad taste in his mouth, placing a hand on both shoulder.  
"Please, no" I squeaked and he pulled back from my jaw.  
"There is no negotiations in this Isabella, you will be changed." Aro growled barely above a whisper.  
"Give me a month, please." I begged.  
"A month? You have already had several too many." Aro growled, hands tightening.  
"I know but I haven't told anyone anything! And I'd like to say goodbye. Not many of your kind have had that opportunity and I don't want to hurt anyone." I did my best to deliver my attempt at puppy dog eyes to potentially the coldest man on this Earth.  
"You wish to say goodbye?" Aro laughed,  
"Yes." I could feel the tears as they started to pool in the corners of my eyes.  
"How can I be expected to trust the word of a human?" Aro squinted down at me, teeth half bared.  
"I'll do anything, please. I just want to say goodbye." A single tear broke free, rolling down my right cheek.  
"Dimitri will remain with you for the next two weeks and then you are to accompany him to Volterra where my brothers and I will administer your bite and you will be welcomed into the Volturi clan and it will be there that we determine the fate of the Cullen's also." Two weeks, I had two weeks to say goodbye.  
"But Master," Dimitri started but Aro cut him off with a hand gesture.  
"No buts Dimitri, you are to remain with Isabella for the remainder of her human life."  
"Yes Sir, but what about the _dog_ problem?" He spat the word as if it were poison.  
"You are a vampire for Christ sake Dimitri, a member of the Volturi! You should be able to out run a couple of mutts!" Aro snarled, enraged at being asked what must have been a stupid question.  
"Isabella, from my understanding you're staying on the tribes land at the moment correct?" I nodded. "Tonight you must move back to Charlie's where Dimitri has better access to you if required. When we call for Dimitri, you will both be present or Dimitri will return you kicking and screaming if necessary; are my orders clear?" I nodded my head but he was looking over my head at Dimitri.  
"Yes Sir."  
"You are to return to the tribes land, gather your things and return home, Dimitri you are to call Renata when Isabella has returned to her father's." Aro released his grip on my shoulder nudging me backwards towards Dimitri.  
"Isabella you do not wish to see the consequences of disobeying me, I assure you." I nodded from the doorway as Dimitri.  
"Oh and Aro?"  
"Hmm?" He raised an eyebrow at me.  
"He's not my precious anything."

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	6. Goodbyes

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

 _6 Goodbye_

Dimitri bundled me up again and then we were running back in the direction of Forks, he dropped me just by the tree line behind Charlie's house so I could take my truck back to La Push. Get in; get out as fast as I can, that was the aim. Charlie's cruiser wasn't in the yard so he was either at station or at the diner with the locals; I made good time to La Push watching as every minute ticked by on the clock. Billy's house was dark when I reached it, which was rare; the door was left unlocked as usual flicking the light on the sleeping boy that was sprawled over the couch stirred; eyes strained from the sudden light. I didn't recognise the boy straight away, he must have been one of Jacob's friends.  
"Bella?" He asked.  
"Yeah, who are you?"  
"Embry, friends with Jacob. I saw you at the bonfire yesterday." He stood up stretching like he was getting ready to run a marathon.  
"Right, where is everyone?"  
"Uh looking for you? Again?" He shrugged walking into the kitchen and returning with a phone wedged between his shoulder and ear as he tore open a bag of potato chips.  
"Sam, yeah buddy she's here. She looks fine, hang on–"  
"You're not hurt are you?" I shook my head, no.  
"Nah she's all good, she stinks though." He said, wow rude.

Embry hung up tossing the phone on the table before throwing himself back onto the couch chips in hand, I left him there to gather my belongings as quick as I could; not that I'd brought many. I was on my way back in from my truck when they first of the tribe returned, Billy returned with Sue Clearwater and her two kids who helped unload Billy's chair as he scrabbled into it, Jacob returned with Sam as well as two other boys I hadn't been introduced to and the only one that was missing was Paul.  
"Bella where have you been this time?" Billy sounded as done as I felt.  
"I was with a couple friends from Forks, I forgot I agreed to go out; we went to Port Angeles." At least the last part of that was the truth, I guess.  
"Port Angeles?" Sam as skeptically, I nodded. "What'd you do?" I was being interrogated by the whole of La Push, cute.  
"Coffee, book store, lunch followed by more coffee; happy?" I snapped harsher than I'd intended.  
"Have you spoken to your old man?" Jacob asked, acknowledging me for the first time; still not looking at me.  
"No, he wasn't home when I picked up my truck. But I think it's safe to say I've outstayed my welcome here anyway, I'm heading back to Charlie's now."  
"Bells," Billy tried to argue.  
"It's fine Billy, I haven't been the most cooperative person and I'm sorry." He smiled the Billy Black smile and a piece of me broke once I realised I wouldn't see that smile again.  
"You should go then." Jacob huffed, storming from the room.  
"Jacob!" I cried, torn between leaving while I had the chance or going after the boy that had been my saving grace throughout all of the awkward summer visits with Charlie over the years.  
"Go after him, Bells. Please." Billy begged, so I did.

Jacob hadn't gone far, he was only sitting on the back porch.  
"Jake?"  
"Just go back to Forks Bella." He huffed again.  
"Jacob please," I sat down next to him staring out into their backyard.  
"Why'd it have to be him, Bells?" He asked, sounding more broken than I had ever heard him before.  
"Him? Him who, Jake? There's no him, I just need to get back to normal."  
"Paul, why did Paul have to fix you? Why couldn't you have let me fix you! I could have helped!" He was mad, or sad, or both.  
"I wasn't a toy to be fixed Jacob; it wasn't anyone's job to _fix me_. You being who you are made it that much easier to come down here and stay even if it was for such a short time. This place Jake, it so soothing and every single one of you play a part in that." I curled an arm around him and then another, looking up at the boy that had once been shorter than me. "You're my oldest friend Jake, nothing replaces that."  
"What if I don't just want to be friends?" He frowned, tugging out of my grip.  
"I'd tell you that it's not worth it, I'm not good enough for you and there's going to be someone out there for you who is ten times the girl I could be for you. Just have to be patient Jake, promise." I jumped as the phone vibrated in my pocket, the screen lit up, it was just a text message.  
 _Tick tock,_ it read.  
"I have to go, Jake." I stood and so did he.  
"See ya round Bells," and that was it, no hug, nothing.

I made my way through the house dodging the bodies that filled the room until I found Billy again, saying my final goodbye to the man who had played the role of uncle and father to me, I said goodbye to Sam his hand swallowed mine in an awkward handshake and then it was time to go.  
 _Coming,_ I replied to the message as I started up the truck again, not even a second later I got a reply.  
 _You have a visitor, text me when he's gone._

And for the last time I reversed out of the Black's driveway.

When I got home, Charlie's cruiser was parked in the driveway so I parked out the front of the house, turning the engine off I chose to just sit there. Tears pooled there but they didn't dare fall, by the time I'd mustered the courage to climb down from the truck Paul who was stood on my porch was pacing back and forth.  
"Paul?" I whisper-yelled.  
"Bella, where the hell have you been?" He rushed down to the truck before scooping me up.  
"Careful Paul, someone might think you care." I laughed and he only squished tighter. "Jesus, alright down boy." I patted his shoulder and he lowered me to the ground."  
"Where have you been?" He asked again, eyes raking over me as if checking for injury.  
"I'm fine, seriously what is with you lot? I went to Port Angeles to clear my head, that's it!" I defended immediately.  
"We should go inside," he suggested or hinted, I'm not sure which.  
" _I_ should go inside, I think you should go home or back to Randy's." I laughed. "I'm not explaining to the good Chief why there's a strange Quileute man in my house!" At that he laughed too.  
"Alright, alright." He scoffed.  
"Paul?"  
"Hmm?" he responded leaning against the truck.  
"Thank you."  
"Anytime you want someone to get drunk with Bella, I'm your guy alright." We laughed.  
"Ha ha," I said sarcastically. "Also, be nice to Jake for me please." He frowned as if he was offended.  
"I'm always nice!" it was my turn to scoff.  
"Goodnight Paul." I called as I made my way up the front porch.

As I locked the front door again the light above the stairs flicked on lighting the path up that ended at Charlie who wobbled at the top half asleep.  
"Sorry Dad, it's just me; didn't mean to wake you."  
"Bells? What are you doing home?" He scratched his head and rubbed sleep from his eye with the other hand.  
"I was ready for my own bed again." I shrugged. "We can talk tomorrow Dad. Go back to sleep."  
He didn't need to be told twice and quickly vanished through the bedroom door again.

Deciding I needed a shower I ducked into my room gathering leggings and a baggy shirt before heading straight for the shower. Turning the taps on fast so the didn't screech I sent Dimitri his text while I waited for the water to heat up.  
 _All clear_ , it read.

My shower was quick and by the time I'd made it back to my bedroom so had Dimitri, giving me half a heart attack in the process.  
"Jesus Christ, warn a girl would you?" He smirked at me from the end of my bed.  
"Nope."  
"Rude," I huffed turning the light off and shuffling across the floor before collapsing in the bed. 

I'd barely closed my eyes before Dimitri's voice made me sit up and kick at the end of my bed; he waved me off over his shoulder. Picking up parts of the conversation he was on the phone to the one Aro had called Renata.  
"Ren, he said two weeks."  
 _Pause  
_ "Yes I know he makes the decisions and gives the orders!" He growled at the phone.  
 _Pause  
_ "No, I'm not implying that. Don't even try to twist my words."  
 _Long pause  
_ "Fine, we'll see you then." He huffed before hanging up.

"Dimitri?" My voice was small, terrified.  
"Aro says you have six days." He exhaled loudly, unnecessarily.  
"What? He said two weeks!" I squeaked.  
"I know what he said, I was there."  
"I don't have a passport how are we supposed to get out of the country?"  
"Seriously, _that's_ what you're worried about now?" He laughed and I frowned.  
"You can get out now, you know."  
"No can do, your angry friend has returned and I'm not feeling too hungry right now."  
"So you're just going to sit there?" I huffed, annoyed.  
"Yup."  
"Fine, just don't watch me sleep." I flopped back pulling the covers up over my head trying my hardest to ignore his existence.  
"Ick, how boring."  
"Get out Dimitri." I growled from under the covers, my blankets muffled his laughter but I still heard it.

When I woke the next morning Charlie was still in bed but Dimitri was gone so I took it upon myself to make breakfast for the two of us. Pancakes with a side of bacon served with maple syrup, Charlie descended the stairs once the smell of food had wafted up to his room.  
"Bells, you're cooking?" He asked groggily, almost as if he were making sure I was real.  
"Yup! C'mon before it gets cold!" I handed him the plates while I carried the syrup and the cutlery.

As we ate in silence I tried to think of the easiest way to have Charlie let me travel to the other side of the world with the possibility that I wouldn't return.  
"Bells, what's going on?" He asked placing his fork on the edge of his plate. Charlie never was a perceptive man and he chooses _now_ to start paying attention?  
"I want go over to Europe, to travel and work. I've already got a job lined up, I just need you to agree so I can go." I started in the least tactful way possible.  
"Europe? Bells are you sure?" He was chewing it over in his head, you could almost see the cogs turning.  
"I'm sure; I feel like it's what I need to do. La Push was healing but I need to go further so I can heal fully. You've been so good to me Char– Dad" I corrected myself.  
"What about Phoenix, couldn't you go back there?" He asked.  
"Phoenix is Mum and Phil's space; I don't want to impose on them. It's what I want to do Dad and I need your support. I'll be working in a sort of old historic castle, its been turned into a tourist attraction where you can stay the night and get a taste of real European history." _Alright Bella, slow it down; putting too much detail into it_ , I corrected myself.  
"And you're sure its what you want?" I nodded. "Well how can I say no?" I sighed, relieved.  
"There's one condition though," uh oh, he looked smug. "You have to tell your mother."  
 _Balls._

Charlie seemed disappointed that Renee was all for the idea, she even talked of visiting later in the year; yeah, no. He must have been expecting the opposite reaction, for her to yell and scream that I was being stupid and that she should have just brought me home when I had the chance. How wrong he was, Renee had even expressed how proud of me she was, that I was going after my goals; hah, what goals?

The next six days were both a blessing and a curse, giving me an excuse to spend more time with Charlie we had lunch or dinner every day and we even watched a couple of movies together. We were never good at expressing emotions so there was no mushy stuff shared from either party, which made things easier, I think. I had lunch with Angela on the fifth day and told her the same lie I'd told everyone else, she was pleased for me but I hadn't expected anything less. Next thing I knew I was packing the few belongings I'd wanted to bring with me, mostly photos of Jake, Billy, Charlie even a couple of Angela, Jessica Mike and Renee and Phil as well as the essential clothes which probably wouldn't be essential once I was changed. Charlie insisted on driving me to the airport which Dimitri said was inconvenient as we weren't flying out from the airport but instead chartering a private plane from a private airfield, go figure. Regardless I told Dimitri he was dropping me off and we could meet inside before leaving once Charlie had, they owed me that much after I lost the extra week with everyone.

 **drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!**

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	7. Volterra

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

 _7 Volterra_

The city of Volterra was halfway between Siena and Pisa which was about a fourteen hour flight away and considering the only plane rides I'd been on before this was when I had bounced between Charlie and Renee over the summertime this was huge. I felt fear and excitement, nerves bounced inside me like little balls of electricity; what was possibly my last day as a vampire was being spent breathing in the stale air that circulated its way through the plane. Dimitri sat on the other side of the plane, having hushed conversations I couldn't always pick up on, some of them in English while others were in what sounded like Italian.

I spent the majority of the flight looking out the window, waves crashed into each other as we flew out of America almost as if that too was a goodbye, flying over deep waters that were eerily calm as if nothing could disrupt that calm. At some point I'd fallen asleep because next thing I knew Dimitri was nudging me awake.  
"We'll be landing in an hour." He informed me before sitting back down in his seat.  
I straightened up trying to stretch the kink in my neck out that was the result of falling asleep at an awkward angle, my face was cold from being pressed against the window and I desperately had to pee. Looking out the window again I was left breathless at how beautiful the Italian countryside was even in winter when snow fought to mask its beauty. Fields of snow as far as the eye could see, every so often a perfect patch of green would peek through the blanket of snow that hid it from view; orange and red rooftops also battled to be seen behind the snow that had fallen the day before, the sun was shining now which must have helped. Down along the cobblestone pathways people the size of ants dotted the towns, I had never had any desire to travel and seeing Italy's landscapes now I was hit with a pang of regret over not dreaming bigger or wanting more.

We landed in Florence; Dimitri wrapped his hand around mine as he pulled me through the hoards of people that pushed and shoved every which way and more. No one stopped us as we walked straight through security, my bag over his shoulder Dimitri lead us to where they had a stall set up offering hire cars.  
"Something black and fast." He instructed the man who looked to be in his forties behind the counter, pulling me closer and wrapping his arm around my shoulder as if to sell the story of boyfriend and girlfriend; I tensed having remembered the few times I'd been hugged by Edward. "Easy," Dimitri encouraged, and I exhaled.

Dimitri signed all the paperwork before the man lead us out to the garage, handing over the keys to some kind of Ferrari opening the passenger side for me before sliding over the bonnet to the drivers side. The engine purred to life and then Dimitri floored it out of the garage and merged into traffic effortlessly, the scenery along the drive to Volterra was much the same that I'd seen from the plane only close up this time; lots of snow lots of green battling to be noticed and then backs and side views of villages that looked like a warm hug felt. We stopped off at a gas station once so I could go to bathroom and Dimitri made me get something to eat while we were there and just over half an hour later we were pulling up to the city gates of Volterra. The Ferrari weaved through the streets effortlessly, mostly to do with the man behind the wheel; when Dimitri turned the engine off we'd come to a stop in an underground car park, I hadn't even taken notice of the castle from the outside and suddenly I felt silly for not doing so. Becoming a vampire seeing the world will become so different, I kicked myself for not paying more attention to the city on our way through.

Dimitri reached for my hand as we moved from the car to the old style elevator and all the way up to what looked like a very out of place receptionist where he instructed me to sit while he spoke to the woman behind the desk who's eyes matched the rest of the Volturi. In the distance there was the faint sound of cries for help and I tensed not knowing what else to do, I remained that way Dimitri pulled me up and lead me in the direction I'd heard the screams coming from but they were gone by the time we reached the end of the corridor; there stood two of the most exquisite doors I had ever seen, they complete with iron detailing and painted a deep burgundy colour as a tasteless joke I imagine. The doors swung inwards revealing three thrones, in each sat Marcus, Aro and Caius, all three had two vampires flanked on either side, hidden behind them stood two women each with another vampire beside them while several other spread scarcely throughout what once must have been a dining hall; it dawned on me that it must have still been their dining hall, just not the way the room had been intended to begin with.

Dimitri released my hand, bowing before the brothers before moving forward to touch his hand to Aro's extended one as he was welcomed back in hushed conversation I couldn't make out. If I were blind, it still would have been obvious that all eyes were on me in that room, I felt awkward, uncomfortable and horrifically out of place but oddly not an ounce of fear ran through me. As Aro and Dimitri spoke, I couldn't help but be drawn to Marcus who's gaze was fixed intently on me; head tilted to the side, one hand gripped the armrest so tight I thought it might break while the other was bent, so he could rest his chin on it almost smugly. Aro and Dimitri stopped talking both turning to look at Marcus as he watched me.  
"Brother, what is it?" Caius asked impatiently.  
"Caius, let him work." Aro encouraged. Let him work? Work what?  
Moments later Marcus released his clenched armrest, extending his hand so that it was within Aro's reach, Aro's eyes seemed to have that same gleam they'd had when we spoke a week ago.  
"Interesting! Very interesting indeed!" Aro mused with a smile that would scare a small child to death. "Dimitri, perhaps you could show Isabella to her new quarters." Aro suggested, well; more like ordered I guess.

"What was that all about?" I finally decided to ask, breaking the silence.  
"That was just Aro's way of flaunting you in front of everyone I guess." Dimitri shrugged.  
"No not that bit, the thing with Marcus. Why was he looking at me like that?" I stopped walking and so did Dimitri, but only to grab my wrist and pull me along again.  
"Marcus' talent is he sees things I guess he saw something of interest." Dimitri shrugged again.

It was he who broke the silence next, as we came to what _had_ to be the final corridor in the whole castle; we stopped at the beginning of the hall.  
"These are the sleeping quarters. On your left you have Marcus, Aro and Sulpicia, Caius and Athenadora while on your left you have Jane, Renata, Heidi and Alec." Dimitri pulled us along past all six doors before coming to a tiny stairwell that lead up. On the floor above there were only three doors, each identical to those below.  
"And here you have Felix, what will be yours, and then there's mine. Come on," he lead me through the door in the middle, mine.

The room itself was probably bigger than Charlie's whole house, two sofa's that connected in an "L" shape, a wall of books that ran up and over the door we'd just entered, there was even a fire place! Through an archway sat the biggest bed I had ever seen in my life, topped with about seventeen pillows too many all of which would end up on the floor by the time I crawled into it. A fully stocked closet, a bathroom the size of my old bedroom the only thing missing was a kitchen; which I wouldn't need anyway. Dimitri lead me around the bed to a drape covered window that also spanned the length of the wall.  
"Stay there," he ordered.  
Walking to the corner he reached for the cord that controlled the drapes, giving it a single tug was all those drapes needed to split straight down the middle. The view was _indescribable_ ; I had full view of the entire town from where I stood and I was speechless. Dimitri moved to stand behind me his chest to my back and I felt myself leaning in to him.  
"Welcome to Volterra, Isabella." He whispered into my ear.

 **drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!**

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	8. Home

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

 _8 Home_

Dimitri left after we stood looking out into Volterra for what felt like hours, leaving me with instructions to freshen up. I showered and then spent a good half an hour looking for the most modest items of clothing in the fully stocked wardrobe and trust me when I tell you it was near impossible, giving up I settled for leggings and a sweater I'd brought from home. I paced up and down the wall of books, taking in every book title before deciding instead to just flop back on the bed, I sent pillows flying which made it that much _more_ fun before crawling under the comfiest blankets I'd ever had the pleasure of touching.

I was awoken by the sound of several throats being cleared, the blinds had been drawn and, the room was lit dimly by two lamps casting silhouettes of Aro, Caius and Marcus up onto the walls as they shifted slightly. Dimitri stood on the opposite side of the room to the three brothers arms folded over his chest, as if he was staying out of the way; his eyes were brighter he'd probably just fed, there was something about him.  
"Isabella, its time." Aro announced like a small child ready for Christmas.  
The three brothers shifted, Marcus at the foot of the bed, Caius to the left and Aro stood by my head to the right.  
"You will receive six clean bites, two from each of us. That should speed the process up for you but it will hurt regardless." Caius spoke with no compassion as he raised my left wrist to his mouth, I felt my heartbeat quicken and he smirked up at Aro. "So, she does fear." He added.  
"Not for long, brothers. Soon she will fear nothing." Marcus spoke matter of fact, adjusting the end of my pants allowing for access to my flesh.  
"We shall wait no longer," Aro's words were final,

The bites felt hot, like lava was being poured into each one. I had few memories about my time with James in the ballet studio, most had been blocked out by choice but it was as if the brothers brought it all to the surface. I wanted to scream and cry, instead I bit my lip and waited until I passed out.

"Shouldn't she be screaming or something?" Came the voice of someone I hadn't met yet.  
"Jane dear, I believe she is far stronger than any of us realise. However you must leave us now. Dimitri, you too." Aro responded to the new voice, Jane.  
"Brother, let the boy stay." Marcus argued and even in the state I was I flooded with relief.  
"Marcus, brother there is plenty of time for him later." Aro argued back.  
"Aro, I saw what I saw. I say the boy stays." Marcus stood firm.  
"Oh for the love of Lucifer, quit your bickering its not like the boy has anything else to do anyway." Caius sounded like he had cut Aro off before he could retaliate.

Aro, Caius and Marcus spent a lot of time hovering around while I cooked from the inside out over the next few days, although I'm not sure Dimitri left once. The burning sensation felt like a yoyo, sometimes it'd be in my chest and then it'd move down my leg, back up to my neck, down my arm to every fingertip; while it was one of the hottest heats I had ever felt, it didn't compare to the first bite I had received from James that night in Phoenix. Sometimes it felt as if it were getting better while other times felt as if I were being launched into the fiery pits of hell.  
 _Focus; focus on anything else. Get your shit together._ I thought on repeat.

Time had no meaning to a vampire in transition but on what felt like my fourth day Aro was back with a woman I assumed was his wife, Dimitri stood off to the side as usual and yet he still managed to have Aro on his case.  
"Dimitri boy, you must feed." Aro encouraged, as if trying to get him to leave.  
He was met with silence; my heartbeat was erratic by now; sometimes beating two beats per minute while other times beating two hundred as I still tried to fight the venom that coursed through every inch of my veins.

The day was coming to a close and I was getting right pissed at this whole transition thing.  
 _Speed up the process,_ Caius had claimed.  
Most vampire transformations took about three days, I had nearly been burning for what felt like five and as if thinking that had triggered it, I was struck by a white-hot burning sensation; everywhere. I trembled almost as if I was seizing. I no longer heard any of the conversations that went on around me, couldn't even hear my heartbeat. Did I still have a heartbeat? Was I dead yet? I struggled to open my eyes, move my fingers or toes. Nothing. _I felt nothing._

I thought maybe the pain had finally blocked out my senses or maybe the change was coming to an end or worse; failing.

After what felt like years of hot blazing heat burning through my flesh, my hearing was the first to return but with it came no heartbeat.  
"Is the transition over? The heart no longer beats!" Caius, impatient, enraged or both.  
"Isabella, if you can hear me you need to open your eyes." A soft voice, possibly one of the wives; I struggled to no avail to get my eyes to open or my limbs to move.  
"This is _ridiculous_! It has been seven days!" Aro. _Seven_ days? How was that even possible?  
I listened to the useless arguing between the brothers and anyone else that filled the room; however the one voice I found myself yearning for was the only voice that did not fill the air.

Finally I began to feel tensed muscles release, and the heat was flooded by cold. Hands clenched the sheets beneath me and I could suddenly feel each individual cotton thread, the room filled with the overpowering scent of wild flowers – the stinky kind, _gross._ The conversations down on the street below sounded as if they were in the room with us, two women arguing over a patterned scarf as the seller tried to bargain a much higher price than it was worth. The conversations in the room were trivial; the woman's voice I'd heard earlier was discussing the details of a planned shopping trip while a male voice commandeered the rest of the room with discussions of his last hunt. Next step was opening my eyes, slowly with the exception of eyelids I remained unmoving in the hope that no one would notice. Even in the dim lit room my eyesight was much clearer than I could have imagined, everything seemed brighter, more vibrant; I guess that's why the lamp was on so low.

"Isabella my dear, welcome home." I turned my head to the voice, Aro; if I'd been human I probably would have given myself whiplash.  
I sat slowly, as I moved I could feel every muscle twitch and spasm from the movement.  
"About time, jeez." One of the voices I hadn't recognised spoke and I hissed in return.  
"Calm, Isabella." Aro moved to stand in front of me; he placed a hand on either cheek moving my face to look up at him. "Incredible," he muttered barely above a whisper.

"Everybody out," Marcus instructed from behind Aro. "Isabella is going to want her space."  
The room slowly emptied until the only ones left were the brothers and of course, Dimitri; I ached to search the room for him regardless of the fact that I somehow knew exactly where he stood. Aro still held of my face in his hands and I was desperate to part from him as if sensing this he stepped back, releasing my face. I rose up, taking a second to look down at the parts of my arms that weren't covered; the bites on my wrists shone silvery against my otherwise pale flesh. A clearing of ones throat reminded me of the reason I stood to begin with. I spun in the direction of the sound and before I registered what I was doing, I had launched myself over the bed and straight for Dimitri's chest; we collided with force, Dimitri faltered as he took a step back arms wrapped around my waist while mine held his shoulders.  
 _Dear God, he smells divine._ I found myself thinking.  
 _Holy hell, she smells like heaven_. I heard a voice that wasn't my own, panicked I flinched back; out of his reach.  
My eyes ran over his face, hurt and fear mixed into one expression; perhaps he thought he had held to tight, now that was laughable.  
"Isabella…" Aro started and then stopped as I raised a single finger, head tilted to the side I couldn't seem to pull my gaze from Dimitri.  
"What," I faltered, the sound of my voice silkier than it once was. "What exactly do I _smell_ like?" If Dimitri had been human the colour would have drained from his face, as a vampire his eyes widened and all expression fell from his face.  
"You, you heard that?" His eyes, which I noticed were the colour of night, grew wider if possible.  
"Uh-huh."

"Isabella," Caius was at my side, a hand on my shoulder. "Come, you must want to see yourself!" He gave a slight tug, insisting that I follow.

"Did I just…?" The question hung in the air as Caius pulled me further from Dimitri.  
"Yes." Dimitri responded following Caius, Marcus and Aro as all four of us traipsed into the bathroom. A hand slipped over my eyes, stopping me from seeing my reflection as I stopped in front of the full length mirror.  
"Are you ready?" Aro, sounding like a child asked.  
"As I'll ever be, I guess." The hand lifted away from my eyes and I was left staring into a pair of eyes that I didn't recognise, raising a hand to touch my cheek confirming that they were indeed my eyes.  
"How is this possible?" I asked, running a finger under my left eye and then my right. Closest to the pupil was the most vibrant blue I had ever seen before, similar to that of the ocean we flew over to get here, wrapped around that was a ring of emerald green and then finally furthest from the pupil was an incredible ring of golden brown.  
"Impossible," I murmured again.

Looking up to the reflection of the three brothers stood behind me, Marcus had a hand on my shoulder while Aro held the other, Caius standing to the side of Aro; I frowned as I watched what looked like a single strand of silver thread wound its way around all three brothers moving in what could only be described as a three-way infinity symbol, more confusing again was the vibrant blue strand that entwined itself through the silver.  
"How can this be?" I whispered, more to myself than anyone else.  
"Isabella, what is it?" Marcus asked with compassion.  
"I don't understand, there's this silver and blue thread floating, circling us. But there's nothing here?" I raised a hand moving through the blue thread as if to prove a point but it just continued swirling.  
"It would appear our Isabella has proven to be quite the talent already." Aro mused, cryptically. "Come, Heidi should have our guests in the great hall by now; let us feed first."

 **drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!**

 **xx**


	9. Changes

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

 _9 Changes_

Aro, Caius and Marcus all took position on their thrones pulling their hoods up to cast a shadow above their faces. With a flick of his wrist Aro had sent Dimitri and I behind the thrones to stand near the wives, Dimitri propped against the wall my back to his chest once more with an arm wrapped tightly around my waist. I could feel his breath on my neck, grazing the flesh that Aro had sunk his teeth into seven days ago.  
 _Vanilla and oranges,_ I felt his thoughts for the second time. In response to that I tensed and the smile that I felt on his lips told me he didn't miss it.

The doors flew open in a massive gust of wind and with it came the scent of fear in the shape of seventeen tourists all of varying height and weight.  
"My friends, we welcome you!" Aro spoke with a certain flare, playing a character.

I felt myself tugging against Dimitri's arm, only making him circle tighter with the addition of a second arm.  
"Wait," he ordered gruffly against my neck, drawing the attention of the wives.

Marcus and Caius stood too, both taking turns at a stiff, over rehearsed speech that I couldn't focus on. Between the thrones I caught sight of a young boy and girl probably mid twenties that were almost mimicking the position Dimitri and I stood in, her heart raced faster every time one of the brother's spoke, every so often she jumped and he adjusted his grip tighter as she squirmed. There was a shadow of a bruise on her cheek below her eye that left her hollowed cheek tinged purple, I growled inaudibly. Following the lines of their entwined bodies, there was another bruise; this time the print of fingers lingered on her forearm above where the boy gripped her wrist now. My second snarl ripped through my chest as if it had come from an enraged lion instead of the woman I was. The room seemed to move in slow motion as I strained against Dimitri, breaking free of his grasp I launched myself across the room narrowly missing the young girl in his arms, I sunk my teeth clean into the boy's neck as we crashed to the floor in a heap. She screamed, he screamed; everyone screamed. If you've ever seen sharks in a feeding frenzy, well, just picture that but less splashing and more limbs flailing.

The boy was dead on the floor in seconds and I expected to feel guilt over taking a life, all I could do was focus on the girl who was now also dead cold on the floor; the bruises on her cheek, arm and in the position she'd fallen on the floor you could see what looked like rope burn running the width of her neck too. I snarled again, reaching down to grab the dead boy by the ankle, twisting I launched him over everyone; he crashed into the wall above where I had stood before. Everyone had fed and all eyes had been on me by that point, still fuming at what I had seen on the girl's body; I fled from the room before anyone could stop me. Locking the door before anyone had caught up to me, as if that would stop them from following, I stormed through to the bathroom kicking that door shut and flicking the lock on that too; turning the shower on I sat on the tiled floor directly under the flow and let the water soak me to the core.

Fun fact of the day, vampirism also heightens emotions. I changed my clothes with the intention of going back in search of the brothers only to find Aro and Marcus sat on my sofa when I emerged.  
"Good to see locked doors mean something to y'all." I snapped from the archway.  
"Isabella, we have a process." Aro began, I growled.  
"He was beating her, _fuck_ your process _._ " I snarled launching the nearest thing across the room, a vase crashed into the back of the door.  
"We will sort _this_ out later." Aro threatened.

"We've come to discuss your gift with you, Isabella. We did not come to start a fight." Marcus gave Aro a very matter of fact look.  
"Gifts." I corrected.  
"Pardon?" Aro looked taken aback, I rolled my eyes moving forward to place my hand on his.  
"Do you hear my thoughts?" He frowned, shaking his head no.  
"You might not, but I see how much _you_ wish to both keep Alice and Edward as members of your guard while simultaneously putting his head on a spike for all to admire." I smiled as he snatched his hand away with a low growl.  
"Incredible," Marcus muttered a slight smile on his lips.  
"So you can't hear my thoughts would hint that I'm some sort of mental shield, but I've also adopted your gift of hearing thoughts through touch. Oh and there's the ribbon thing too, whatever that was." I'm sure I was wearing a shit eating grin as Aro seemed to still be processing that I'd read his thoughts about Edward.  
"I'm afraid that would be my talent you've picked up on too, dear." Marcus seemed amused whether it be at the conversation or Aro's expression we'll never know.  
"What exactly is your talent?" I asked.  
"We call it relationship identification, I can sense bonds between people sometimes before they themselves even know they exist." He explained.  
" _I saw what I saw, let the boy stay_ " I mimicked what Marcus had said during my transformation.  
"Yes, exactly. You and Dimitri will develop quite the special bond, if you choose to let the boy in that is." Marcus seemed like the pushover uncle that always snuck you the good lollies at family lunches; I never did have one of them.

"Anyway, perhaps we should get some details sorted out before this goes any further." Aro still had annoyance written on his face, did he not want Dimitri commandeering the conversation? Or perhaps it was still the mind reading thing.  
"Of course, Aro if you would." Marcus motioned for Aro to take the floor.  
"Isabella first and foremost a few couple of rules, we hunt together in the castle and when hunting outside of the castle the people of Volterra are strictly off limits. Until we're confident in your self-control, you're not to leave the castle alone. Stay out of direct sunlight when in the presence of humans. Those few rules are key to us remaining in this city unnoticed." Aro had immediately switched to the role of leader.  
"With that out of the way, let us talk training." Marcus encouraged the conversation.  
"Of course, next is your training. Beginning tomorrow you'll start defensive training with the other members of the guard in the battle room where you can test out your newborn strength and we'll also test your bloodlust control over the coming days as well. Any questions?"  
"Why do I need defensive training?" I frowned, Volterra had to be one of the most guarded parts of the vampire world.  
"Every vampire needs to know how to fight, Isabella." Aro said it as if it were obvious.  
"Dimitri and Felix will collect you at five sharp and together you will begin training." Aro stood, straightening his robes preparing to leave so Marcus did the same.

It wasn't until Aro was at the door that Marcus spoke again.  
"Oh, and just so you know; they fight dirty." He beamed when Aro sent him a glare.  
"Goodnight Isabella." The pair said in unison.

I dimmed the lights once they left, opening the drapes so the moonlight streamed in letting the star speckled sky shine bright. First I rearranged the closet from most likely to wear to wouldn't be caught un-dead in, some of the shoes could have been better used as throwing knives instead of actual shoes. I wasn't really one for jewellery but to mock the New Years Eve partygoers' _new life, new me_. I picked out a delicate set of wings that held a single Swarovski crystal between them and fastened it around my neck. I kept the door locked through the night and not once did I hear a single knock. I spent my time reading under the moonlight, the occasional conversation caught my attention as people past by on the streets below, there was also movement in the rooms beside mine but if I ignored them I hoped they'd do the same for me. Once I'd grown tired of the book in my hand, I rifled through the draws and cupboards until I found a sketchpad and set of pencils; I sketched the one thing that had been on my mind all night, the young girl with her bruised cheek. Before now I'd never had an artistic bone in my body and suddenly it was as if I could rival that of Van Gogh, Da Vinci and Picasso all at once. I stared at her sad eyes, bruised cheek and fake smile until I could stare no longer; leaving the sketchpad on the small coffee table I threw myself down on the bed dramatically and stayed there until sunrise.

 **drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!**

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	10. Training

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

 **Also i got to about this point in the story where I lost direction a bit and ended up changing the direction of the story I was going in, hope you all still enjoy it! :)**

 _10 Training_

Just before five I changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, black sports bra before throwing a maroon muscle tee thing over the top; adding a plain pair of black high-tops and throwing my hair up into a bun I was ready to go when I was summoned by a single knock on the door.  
"So, you must be Isabella." Felix stated as I pulled the door shut, I looked at Dimitri trying to gauge if he was serious all he gave me was a shrug.  
"Well, duh." I laughed.  
"I'm Felix," He stated the obvious.  
"I know." Was this guy for real? Clearly wasn't kept around for his brains.  
The rest of the walk was silent, until we ran into a very pretty brunette dressed in a dress that left absolutely nothing to the imagination.  
"Heidi, lookin' gooooood." Felix hollered much louder than was required.  
"Hello to you too Felix," if words could roll their eyes hers would have.  
"Heidi, this is Isabella." Dimitri introduced us once we were closer, she smiled politely and I returned it; we had nothing to talk about and continued on.

When we got to what Felix announced as the battle room Alec was already fighting a girl that looked to be about his age, Dimitri pulled me backwards just in time to dodge the girl as she came flying backwards; straight at us.  
"Alright you two, cut it out come meet the newbie!" Felix hollered catching Alec by the nape of the neck as he flashed past.  
"Isabella, you met Alec in America; this is his twin sister, Jane." The both extended a hand at the same time and I shook both.  
"This is the one I told you about," Alec grumbled to Jane whose happy face turned to one of pure hate as she continued to look at me.  
"Jane enough of that." Snarled a vampire as he entered through the opposite side of the room.  
"That's Santiago, he's in charge of the physical training." Jane huffed before she Alec and Felix began a sort of tag team battle leaving Dimitri and I standing alone again.

"What was that about?" I asked as we watched them dance around each other.  
"She was trying to use her power on you, Jane's always trying to one up her brother." Dimitri laughed as Jane protested giving Felix the chance to pin her.  
"That's one to Felix," Santiago called, uninterested.  
"What were their powers again?" I couldn't remember if I'd discussed them with anyone yet.  
"Alec removes senses, leaving you blind, deaf and terribly fearful. Jane on the other hand just tends to inflict pain on anyone she doesn't like."  
"Hey!" The girl in question cried out in protest as she knocked Felix off his feet.  
"One to Jane," Santiago announced.

"I have a theory," I made conversation as we watched Jane tag Alec into the fight.  
"Hmm?"  
"About my power," I had his attention now.  
"How do their powers work?" He looked at me confused.  
"I don't know, they just focus on their target and it just _works_." I smiled, turning back to the fight.  
"Two for Felix!" Santiago called just as Alec flew through the air crashing into the floor beside where Santiago stood.  
 _Just focus,_ I thought; eyes trained on Felix I thought about him losing his sight.  
"Oi what the fuck Alec! No powers!" He growled, just as Alec sent him crashing to the ground.  
"I'm not doing anything!" Alec growled back, offended so I stopped.  
"One to Alec!" Santiago added, "Felix just get on with it."  
"He used his gift! I don't have a gift to use!" Felix protested, holding the fight up.  
"I didn't even do anything!" Alec argued.  
"Well you're the one that takes sight away, and I just lost mine!" Felix snarled diving for Alec's side; he missed.  
Dimitri was watching me as the fight heated up, an eyebrow arched and a hint of a smirk on his face.  
I turned my attention to Alec, thinking of the heat I'd experienced over the last seven days of my transition; he couldn't have hit the floor harder, screaming bloody murder as his body twitched like a fish out of water.  
"Ha!" Felix chortled, so I stopped.  
"Jane, what the _fuck_?" Alec snarled as he wobbled to his feet again, propped against the wall; Felix too the opportunity to swoop in and slam him back into the ground.  
"Three to Felix, we have a winner." Santiago couldn't have sounded less enthused.  
"What the _fuck_ was that, Jane?!" Alec fumed standing up again.  
"I didn't do anything! Just because you were losing!" The bickered back and forth until Santiago interrupted.  
Dimitri reached for my hand and I let him take it.  
 _Remind me not to piss you off, deal?_ He thought at me.  
"Deal." I repeated to him, a smirk to mirror his on my own face.

As the twins bickered we were joined by three more vampires, all of which stood with us and flinched when Alec screeched again as he writhed on the floor.  
"Afton, Corin, Mele this is Isabella." Dimitri did the introductions once Santiago threw Jane against the back wall breaking her gaze with Alec.  
"Alec go and fetch master Aro, pronto." Santiago ordered as the boy regained his balance again. _Ah shit, busted_. I thought and Dimitri's shit eating grin said the same.  
"Alright you lot, pair up we've got a newbie to train; D you take her, the rest of you simple no special abilities we're working on strength control today. Best of three, get moving." Santiago ordered, Dimitri pulled us furthest away and began with what he called the simplest of stances. I had more flashbacks of the night in the ballet studio when the Cullen's had come to save me, I'd seen pieces of James fighting with Jasper and Emmett but I seemed to remember more of it now.

Dimitri crouched low, knees apart, back hunched slightly so I copied him.  
"I'm going to come at you from the left, then you're going to try and get your arms around me from the left; alright?" I nodded and he counted down from three. I exhaled deeply just as he reached one, opening my eyes in time to see him falter and make his move from the right instead. I managed to dodge his attack, my fingertips grazing his shirt making contact with the skin underneath as I spun around launching for him; he pinned me beneath him easily.  
"More impressive than I thought, you'd be." He grinned at me, mockingly.  
"One to Dimitri!" Santiago called from somewhere in the room.  
"Marcus told me y'all fight dirty." I smiled sweetly up at him before jerking my knee up so it collided with his groin, he groaned; loosening his grip just enough for me to roll, pinning him instead.  
"Did that actually just happen D? That's an even one all!" Santiago called again over what sounded like Felix's obnoxious laughter.  
"D, a word if you would?" Santiago called again summoning him over, I let go still smirking as he stood up.

They spoke in hushed tones I'm sure if I'd paid attention I could have heard, I was more interested in watching the others fight. Jane obviously used her size as an advantage always slipping the grip of her opponent at the last second ducking and weaving in and around Afton pinning him in what could only be described as sneak attacks. Felix was muscle from head to toe and that made pinning Corin three times a piece of cake leaving him to take on Mele who was just as small as Jane only far less skilled in the art of battle, still she seemed to have a pretty good idea of the definition of evasion and even managed to knock Felix on his ass once when he became frustrated over not catching her.  
"Ready for round two?" Dimitri came back from his chat with Santiago with more pep in his step than he had before, confident that he was winning this match.

We started in opposite corners; Felix counted down from three, having finished both of his matches. When he reached one Dimitri shot forward aimed straight for me, arms outstretched, teeth bared; I was still tossing up between which technique to use but by the time he was stood in front of me I was back where he started. Felix hollered from the sidelines, in an attempt to work Dimitri up. It was a big game of cat and mouse between the two of us, when he thought he had a hold of me I'd be gone until I barreled into him from the side sending us both crashing into the wall. From there it turned into more of a wrestling match than anything else, he was up, then I was up, until he made a crucial error, over reaching as he threw himself at me to gain the upper hand again; I shifted my weight slightly and he toppled straight over the top in a complete 180 so I had him pinned again.  
"Seriously Dimitri? Two to one, Isabella wins." Santiago declared.  
 _  
_"What even is the matter Santiago?" Aro sounded annoyed as he stood with Alec by his side in the doorway.  
"Sir, the twins were fighting over the ban of special abilities. On a more positive note, your newborn just beat Dimitri." Santiago seemed to be reminding Dimitri who almost looked like he was sulking now.  
"We weren't _fighting_ , _I_ didn't use my ability and Alec said I did!" Jane growled at both Santiago and Alec.  
"Well _Felix_ said I used mine but I didn't!" Alec huffed back.  
" _You did!_ I had no sight, and that's _your thing_!" Felix added his two cents.  
"Why would I attack Alec over attacking Felix? That only _benefits_ me!" Jane argued further.

Aro's eyes were trained on me as the three bickered; I tried to look anywhere but at him. Dimitri appearing to dust himself off and picking up his ego seemed to catch on, looking at Aro's gaze fixed on me he insanely decided to spin me around; an arm around my waist so we were chest to chest.  
 _Hey there._ He thought, I grinned in response.

"Isabella," Aro commanded attention a glare comparable to that of a thunder cloud on his face.  
"Kind of busy over here," I raised a hand up as if shooing a fly away.  
"Isabella," He growled again.  
 _You're in trooooouble_ , Dimitri jeered.  
"Isabella, do not make me come over there." Aro threatened and when we still failed to move, he did. Curling his fingers around my upper arm he jerked me backwards and Dimitri let me go; traitor. Aro marched me through the small crowd that had grown.  
"Training will resume tomorrow." Aro snarled as he retreated, still dragging me along like a misbehaved child.

 **drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!**

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	11. Family Business

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

 **Also by this point in the story I'd lost direction a bit and ended up changing the direction of the story I was going in, hope you all still enjoy it! :)**

 _11 Family Business_

"God damn it, let me _go_!" I snarled in protest, pulling against him.  
"Shut up." He growled back, moving us at vampire speed through the halls other vampires that lingered cleared out of the way, bowing their heads slightly.

"Sit." He ordered pushing me into an antique looking armchair that sat in a well-lit office; opposite the armchair there was a three-seater sofa in the same patter. Three of the four walls in the room were filled with books; some of them looked barely held together fraying at the spines. The dark mahogany wooden desk stood, over flowing with papers varying in texture and colour.  
"What did I _do_?" I snarled, defensive.  
"Cut the crap Isabella." Aro towered over me as I sat in the chair like a child waiting for her punishment.  
"Would you just tell me what I did?" I glared up at Aro resisting the urge to bare my teeth in an ugly snarl. Old Bella would have been terrified, looking into such a powerful face; lucky for me I wasn't _old Bella._

The door swung open and Marcus and Caius marched through together, flanking me on either side.  
"Okay, _now_ will you tell me what I did?" I huffed.  
"Brother, what is the meaning of this?" Caius asked. "Should she not be in training with the guard?"  
" _She_ was in training!" I huffed, exhaling loudly.  
" _Silence!"_ Aro bellowed loud enough for the whole castle to hear him, super hearing or not. "Our dearest Isabella thought it wise to use her _gift_ on Felix and Alec this morning." Was that it, seriously?  
"Brother, what happened?" Marcus exhaled, hands on his temple as if trying to cure a headache he couldn't get.  
"I used Alec's gift on Felix and Jane's gift on Alec, Felix thought Alec used his ability while they fought and then Alec thought Jane used her gift on him." I rolled my eyes, Aro was acting as if I'd invited the townspeople of Volterra up to my room for a God damn blood bath.  
"Gifts, what on Earth are you talking about? What ability does Isabella have, Aro? Does no one tell me _anything_ in this castle?" Caius asked, offended at being left out of the loop.  
"So far I'm a mental shield and I've collected the abilities of Aro, Marcus, Aro, Jane and probably whoever else I've come into contact with." I answered before the brothers which only earned another glare from Aro.  
"Isabella appears to be a collector." Aro stated and I frowned.  
"You make it sound like I'm a pickpocket." I huffed.  
"That's one way to look at it, but perhaps we should get back to the topic at hand." Marcus spoke up bringing the conversation back to, well, me.  
"We do not use special abilities in physical training without instruction Isabella." Caius informed me of what I had supposedly done wrong.  
"Right. And I got that in the what not to do, vampirism for dummies book, yeah?" I snapped, glaring at Aro who had put me in this situation to begin with.  
"Lose the attitude Isabella or your punishment will be worse." Aro placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed, his eyes turned to slits as his glare intensified.

I looked back at him, my eyes mimicking his. Suddenly hit with a possibly brilliant more than likely stupid idea, I put all my energy into thinking one thought; straight at Aro, if he didn't hear this I was forever stuck with a mental shield only useful for me.  
 _If you're playing the Dad here, you suck at it._ Mental me snarled up at him, and judging by the speed he released my shoulder and the step he took backwards; I'd say it worked.  
"How did you do that?" He stammered, yes the great vampire Aro Volturi _stammered.  
_ "I'm mad and I thought really hard. I wanted you to hear it, so you did." I shrugged.

"Aro, can we get on with the punishment. It sounds like Heidi has returned with a fresh batch." Caius, always the impatient one.  
"Tomorrow you will report here, where you will find all three of us. Perhaps you would be better off learning the family business instead of tormenting our guard members." Aro declared, neither Marcus nor Caius spoke up with alternate punishments so it was decided.  
"Seriously, I'm being _punished_ for something no one even told me was a thing? That's messed up." I was bitter, I'd wanted the chance to fight with Dimitri again.  
"Isabella, you are dismissed. Be here at five sharp or you can expect further consequences." Aro ignored me.  
"Ai, ai _Daddo._ " I snarled bitterly, getting my hand on the doorknob before Marcus spoke.  
"Wait Isabella!" I groaned. "Perhaps it would not be wise to let others know of our Isabella's many talents just yet." Marcus thought aloud.  
"Right got it, don't tell anyone I'm a pickpocket."

I think I must have searched the whole castle for Dimitri, and where did I find him you ask? Outside my quarters, sat on the floor burning a hole through my door with his gaze.  
"Anyone would think I'd died the way you're moping over there," I joked.  
"You're free?" He asked, a look of guilt on his face.  
"As free as they come in this place," I shrugged, opening the door and he followed me through.  
"So what'd you get? Banned from the group feed? Are they going to lock you up and throw away the key?"  
"I'm _learning the family business_." I pulled a face as I quoted Aro.  
"You're doing what?" Dimitri asked shocked, I think.  
"I'm banned from training and instead get to spend my time cooped up with the brothers as I learn the family business, whatever that means." I left Dimitri to go and change into a long sleeved shirt, kicking off my shoes in the process.  
"What else happened, you were gone for ages!" He pulled me down onto the couch, kicking his legs up on the coffee table.  
"We argued a _lot_. I called him Dad." Dimitri snorted. "It was meant to be an insult." I defended.  
"Dad was the best insult you had?" He laughed.  
"Shut up." I grumbled nudging him with my elbow.  
"Alright, sorry continue."  
"Basically we growled and snarled at each other until the brothers arrived and then we argued about using my gifts this morning which by the way I'm not supposed to tell anyone about but it's a little late for that," I shrugged and so did he. "Then Caius got offended because no one told him I was multitalented and then we argued and I managed to project my thoughts to Aro who flipped out and then I got my family business punishment and here we are."  
"Hold up, I thought Aro couldn't hear you?"  
"He can't, I _made_ him hear me." I kicked my legs over his so they were hanging down, his hand resting just above my knees.  
"You made him hear you?" I nodded. "What'd you tell him?"  
" _If you're playing the Dad here, you suck at it._ " He laughed and so did I.  
"Serious? All the things you could have had him hear and you chose _that_?" He spoke through laughter.  
"He was annoying me, and he freaked out enough to almost _jump_ back from me so I had my fun." I defended, annoyed.

"Right, go get a jacket and put your snow boots on, we're getting out of here." He pushed my legs off his and shooed me in the direction of the closet.  
"We don't even feel the cold why do I need a jacket?" I huffed, pulling the snow boots on mid jump.  
"Appearances, I'll be back in a sec." The door shut behind him and then opened a second later.  
"Ready?" He asked walking back inside, I answered by walking into view with my boots laced and had a hooded leather jacket that ended just below my waist on.  
"Dang," he remarked and I threw a book at him.

"Where are we going?" I asked as he tugged me by the hand, fingers entwined.  
"I told you, we're going out." He laughed.  
"Did I hear you say you're going out?" Felix appeared out of no where bouncing like a child hyped on sugar.  
"Yes and you're not coming. If anyone asks you didn't see us." Dimitri answered not missing a beat as we started to run.  
Down to the garage and through a little side door entrance we stepped out into the icy winds of Volterra, it must have been midafternoon the sun had disappeared behind the solid clouds that covered the sky and snow had just started to fall.  
"Come _on_!" He urged pulling me again, we ran at vampire speed through the gate heading straight for the tree line.

We ran for a good half an hour until we came to an empty field, shaped like an almost perfect oval the sky had started to darken slightly; it was nearing dusk. Snow fell lightly; our footprints remained in the snow that had settled on the ground as we made our way to the middle of the field. I breathed in deeply, the smell of the woods reminded me of Forks which reminded me of Charlie and I felt a slight pang of guilt.  
"Have you seen snow before?" Dimitri asked, breaking my train of thought.  
"Dimitri please, I lived in Forks." I snorted, of course I'd seen snow.  
"Does it look like this snow?" He asked, releasing my hand I felt and heard him retreating.  
"Snow isn't any different because it's in America; of course it's the same. What kind of a question even is that?" I scoffed.  
"So it feels like this then?" Before I had time to move, the snowball collided with the back of my head drenching my hair and neck. I screamed.  
"Tell me you didn't!" I screeched.  
"Oh but I did," and then he threw another one.  
"You've got to be kidding me!" I screeched again, and that started the war that continued until the sun set and the moon was high in the sky.  
I hadn't thought it possible for vampires to be out of breath considering they didn't actually need to breathe but by the time we collapsed together in the middle of the field, we were.  
"I hate you," I gasped, entirely soaked.  
"No you don't." He grinned, propping himself on an elbow while the other arm draped over my waist.  
"True," I grinned back.  
He looked at me and I looked at him, I raised a hand so it curved around his neck grazing his jaw with my thumb.  
"You're beautiful, you know." He whispered, his eyes had gone black and his voice was husky.  
"I think you might be a little biased." I joked.  
"Sh," he muttered and then he lowered his face to mine, lips grazing mine he held himself there a smirk on his lips. I did the rest by pulling him closer, our mouths merged as if they'd belonged together and all I can say is _Oh My God._ Nothing Edward had ever done could compare to that single kiss Dimitri and I shared, not that that was a big statement; Edward had even been scared to hold hands on a good day.

We kissed and then we kissed some more, he held me close and I had a fist full of his shirt while my other hand was still on his neck. The stars seemed to dance as they sparkled above us in the sky and I was breathless all over again.  
"Wow," I breathed as light began to creep into the sky again.  
"Wow indeed." Dimitri echoed.  
I reached for my pocket in search of my phone, hitting the home button the time lit up _4:40_.  
"Shit!" I growled under my breath.  
"What is it?" Dimitri was standing with me, hands on my shoulders.  
"I have to be at Aro's study at 5." And then we were running as we raced the clock.

Even with my vampire sight everything was a complete blur as we raced back to the castle, the time on my phone was more like a ticking time bomb now. There was no way we'd make it back in twenty minutes when it had taken us more than half an hour to get to the field the first time. Dimitri pushed harder and so did I, running side by side, hand in hand.  
The castle came into view as the phone flicked over to 5:03am. Fuck.  
"We'll get there, you'll be fine." Dimitri encouraged.  
"Too late, _I'm_ late." On the plus side running home had dried my clothes so I didn't bother changing before I ended up outside the office door. 5:05am. Balls. I raised my hand to knock just as the door swung open to reveal Caius' unimpressed face.  
"You're late."  
"I know."  
"Why do you smell like snow and trees?" He frowned, shaking his head clear.  
"Because I'm late." I reminded him.  
"Isabella, you're late." Aro chimed in as Caius shut the door again.  
"We literally _just_ said that, but yes. I'm late. Next punishment?" I asked sarcastically and he grinned back.  
"The Cullen's will be here in four days."

 **drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!**

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	12. Punishment

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

 **Also by this point in the story I'd lost direction a bit and ended up changing the direction of the story I was going in, hope you all still enjoy it! :)**

 _12 Punishment_

"Four days? I'm five minutes late and _that's_ my punishment?!"  
"No, they were going to be here regardless. I figured that was punishment enough They'll be here on Friday."  
"Right, moving on shall we?" Marcus tried to change the topic.  
"All of them?" I asked, suddenly nervous; Emmett, how I had missed that teddy bear. I thought of Esme and Carlisle who had been so kind and accepting of the tiny human that their favourite son brought home that one day. Rosalie had been so filled of hate; perhaps we would get along now. Jasper hurt the most; I wanted to tell him that I didn't blame him that his control was unlike any others. Alice was supposed to be my best friend and she let her brother dump me in a forest, I certainly did _not_ ache to see her.  
"All of them, none of them are aware of you yet as far as we are aware." Aro continued.  
"Do you think I can use my shield to cover more than myself?" I asked next.  
"You mean to shield others from mental attacks? I don't see why not. We can look into it later." Aro seemed to see where I was going with this, if he'd wanted to keep me a secret it would have been silly for everyone to have me in their thoughts when Edward walked through the doors of the great hall.

"Right, let's get on with this then!" Marcus encouraged again.  
"What exactly is the family business?" I asked looking at all three brothers.  
"Ruling the vampire world, of course." Aro said it as if it were obvious.  
"You're going to teach me to _rule_?" I asked incredulously.  
"Yes," Aro answered.  
"Isn't that kind of, your job?"  
"Yes," Aro answered again.  
"So if it's _your_ job, why exactly do I need to learn it?"  
"Because it's the family business and you're now family." Aro responded almost with emotion.  
"Did you have any of the other vampires you turned learn the family business?" I couldn't wrap my head around this.  
"Oh Isabella, come on now!" Marcus tried.  
"Sulpicia and Athenadora both know all required to rule however they prefer to stay out of the spotlight." Aro answered with a roll of his eyes.  
"So what, I'm some kind of _daughter_?" I asked with a hint of disgust.  
"You need not bother yourself with titles, we will teach you as the Daughter of Volterra and if you choose to let the name stick, so be it." Caius cut Aro off before he could speak. "Now let us get on with it, Aro give her the desk, Marcus get the book."

Aro stood from his chair and I took his place in front of me Marcus placed a book that could easily have weighed as much as I did.  
"This is all you need to know about every known vampire that roams this planet. Coven lineage, and all you need to know about special abilities and the known vampires that have them. Get reading little one, we'll be back in an hour." Marcus placed a hand on my shoulder and then the three brothers left. I found myself turning pages until I found the Cullen's portion of the book and that's where I started. I found my heart aching for Carlisle as I read about his transformation and the different ways he had tried to kill himself there after, I couldn't help but smile when I read that Carlisle had treated Esme for a broken leg nearly ten years before he had changed her. I felt pity for Alice when I read about her stay in the asylum and when I read the story behind Rosalie's change I felt sick to my stomach. I found myself reading her page over and over again, the words burned in my brain and I felt sick to my stomach; that was how the brothers found me again an hour later, eyes still glued to Rosalie's story.  
"Come my dear, let us test your shield." Marcus seeing the page I was on, closed the book.

For the next four days the time was mainly spent working on extending my shield and when I wasn't doing that I was reading the book of covens Dimitri and I had been left with no opportunities to sneak off to the field again. On the first day my shield covered only me, by the third day I could steadily stretch my shield to cover the distance of half the great hall. The more we trained, the thirstier I became and on the second day I had drained myself so severely that Dimitri had carried me down to the great hall to feed. On the forth day, all unnecessary vampires were given the instructions to clear out of the castle, even the wives, Corin, Chelsea and Afton went out on a shopping trip to Rome; those left behind were the brothers, Renata, Jane, Alec, Felix, Santiago, Dimitri and myself.

When I studied the book, Dimitri often dragged Felix and anyone else interested down to the training room and they fought for hours on end. The Amazonian coven consisted of three women and they claimed to have fit the stereotype of women from the Amazon, only one of them had special abilities. Of American nomads there were four known, two of which were good friends with Jasper from his time in the newborn wars; Peter and Charlotte. The Denali coven were the only other known vegetarian vampires, Eleazar, Carmen, Tanya, Kate and Irina three of which were rumoured to be Succubi and all were good friends with the Cullen's. By the fourth day, I felt like I knew all of the vampires I'd been reading about personally.

Dimitri burst through the door early on Friday morning carrying a black garment under his arm.  
"I just beat Felix for the _seventh_ time in a row! _And_ he wants yet another rematch!" He grinned falling back on the couch where I was curled up.  
"Of course he does, any chance to fight you the man's going to take you up on it!" I laughed.  
"How's the study goin', babe?" He tried to peer into the book just as I closed it shut.  
"I feel like I could _write_ this book." I declared.  
"I don't doubt that, anyway Aro wants you to wear this it matches all of ours; he says wear something black underneath it." He said, grinning at the last part; he knew I rarely wore anything _but_ black.

Showered and changed we both joined everyone in the great hall as we waited for the Cullen's arrival. The brothers sat in their usual chairs, with Renata by Aro's shoulder, Jane stood with Caius and Alec stood with Marcus. Behind the thrones Santiago and Felix stood shoulder to shoulder and behind them stood Dimitri and I, I stretched the shield envisioning a giant shimmery force field like dome stretching over everyone in the room and that was how we waited.

 **drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!**

 **xx**


	13. Reunion

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

 **Also by this point in the story I'd lost direction a bit and ended up changing the direction of the story I was going in, hope you all still enjoy it! :)**

 _13 Reunion_

Carlisle, Esme and Edward walked in first followed by Rosalie and Alice who were then followed by Jasper and Emmett all seemed more cautious than I had ever seen them although nothing else about them had changed. There was no pep in Alice's step, no grin on Emmett's face or sweet, sweet smile on Esme's. Aro on the other hand was almost giddy with excitement as he sat on his throne; everyone else was neutral.  
"Aro, always a pleasure." Carlisle greeted tensely.  
"Carlisle! How are you my friend?" Aro piped.  
"Well, thank you," He nodded. "Although I can't help but wonder why we've been brought here."  
"Patience, my friend. Did you find time to feed before you arrived?"  
"We managed just fine, thank you." Carlisle was tenser.

Santiago shifted his weight slightly giving me a partial view of Edward over the top of Aro's chair, I tensed and Dimitri's hold on my hand and waist tightened majorly.  
 _Breathe baby,_ I heard Dimitri think in an attempt to calm me.  
"Carlisle…" Edward muttered, even though everyone could hear him.  
"It has been made known to us that your entire coven has broken one of our laws, Carlisle." Aro informed, suddenly it seemed to have dawned on him what this was all about.  
"Aro please, be reasonable friend." He pleaded.  
"We have not yet made any judgments as of yet, Carlisle there is no need to fret just yet."  
"There is no need to fret you say? You've called us here with no judgment?" As Carlisle spoke both Edward and Alice seemed to be focusing on something no one else could see, both with expressions of indifference.  
"Aro, if there is a judgment to be made perhaps we could speak privately?" Carlisle, always the peacemaker.  
"In due course, my friend." Aro nodded slowly.  
"This is about Bella." Rosalie spoke up, the room as a collective let out a hiss.  
"Rosalie, please." Esme shushed her.  
"No way, nu-uh. I told _everyone_ getting involved with Bella was a bad idea!" She declared, irritated.  
"Rosalie, your opinion is _not wanted_ " Edward growled and as if he had pulled the trigger on a gun I was sent reeling into the flashbacks of the afternoon he had left me in the woods. _Not worthy. Not wanted. You can't come with us._ I felt a growl bubbling in my chest as I looked at Edward, and then he dropped to the floor letting out a throaty scream as his body seized. As soon as I realised what I had done I stopped, Santiago and Felix stepped closer together blocking all view, Dimitri turned us so his back was to everyone and I buried my face in his neck.  
"Aro! What is the meaning of this? You said no judgment had been made!" Carlisle snarled.  
"Alec," Aro motioned with his hand and the smoke rolled over the floor straight for the Cullen's taking their vision away.  
"Aro!" Carlisle panicked.  
"Apologies Carlisle, we have much to discuss later but for now my guard will show you to your rooms."

Alec and Jane stepped forward as Alec released his hold on their eyesight they followed the twins out the door.  
 _Shit,_ I thought.  
"Aro," I started but he seemed to have thought the same.  
"Go, both of you." He shooed.  
Dimitri and I followed so Alec and Jane didn't fall out of range of my shield, the two departing from the Cullen's as soon as they dropped them at their doors giving them instructions not to wander. Carlisle and his family were in the most isolated part of the castle, we might as well have locked them in the tower and thrown away the key.

Using my shield had drained me again so we returned to the great hall in time to catch the feeding party.  
"While the Cullen's are our guests everyone is to keep Isabella _out_ of their thoughts. We do not tell them _anything_ until _I_ give the order. Have I made myself clear?" Aro addressed the whole room.  
"Yes master Aro," the room as a collective responded.

"I want to see them." I argued when we were back in Aro's office.  
"You saw them already." Aro defended.  
"I want to _see_ them! Face to face." It was as if we were having a real father-daughter argument and it was ridiculous.  
"They're going to receive punishment, you don't want to get in between that." He warned.  
"Oh come on! You heard Rosalie; she didn't even want me involved in this life! They were my family."  
"Might I remind you that they _all_ left you in those woods Isabella."  
"I don't need _you_ to remind me of that, I was there, and you weren't. If I can manage to look past that and see them for the family I had before, you can _not_ stand in my way Aro." I growled angrily.  
"Might I also remind you that this, right here, is the family you have now," He huffed, frustrated.  
"The family I have now will be whoever I damn well choose to have as family." I was sounding more and more like an enraged teenager and I was not a fan. 

"I'm not asking to see all of them, just let me see Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie. We'll go outside the walls somewhere in the forest. I don't want to see Alice and I don't want to see Edward but I _need_ to see those three. _Please._ " I begged him to understand.  
"Fine. But you take Dimitri and Felix with you, and for the _love_ of God do not come back an animal drinker." It was at that point that I, Isabella Marie Swan, _squealed_ with excitement.

"So remember, don't think about me and don't think about where we're going." I reminded Dimitri and Felix as I was leaving the castle.  
"Don't stress we've got it under control!" Felix bounced around.  
"If you think about either Edward will know, you won't have my shield to block you." I reminded again.  
" _Baby,_ it's fine we'll see you at the field in half an hour." Dimitri echoed Felix and adding a swift kiss.

I had the maximum of a five-minute head start on Dimitri, Felix and the Cullen's so I ran _fast_ wanting to have cleared the field before the others arrived. It wasn't snowing and the air smelled like spring today, winter was coming to a close and the flowers that had started to sprout in the field made it clear that spring had sprung. Hidden just out of super strength vampire sight, it wasn't long before Dimitri and Felix came into view followed by Emmett and Jasper followed by Rosalie. They were obviously on edge over being split up from the others, Jasper's eyes roamed the field and beyond assessing their surroundings.  
"Can you uh tell us why you dragged us out here now?" Emmett scratched his head in confusion.  
"I mean, I guess we _could._ " Felix joked and Dimitri hit him.  
"Just give us a minute but if you could just look this way for us." Dimitri was following my directions much better than Felix had.  
"You're not going to kill us are you?" Rosalie asked, not fearful but almost bored.  
"Are you feeling lucky?" Felix joked again and was met with four growls in return, if I was going to kill anyone it'd be him.

"If anyone's going to die today, I think it's going to be you Felix." I snapped from the tree line. Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper all spun around in sync at the sound of another voice.

"Bella?" Jasper was the first to speak.  
"No fuckin' way!" Emmett whispered, Rosalie's mouth just hung open.  
"Hi family," I said with a grin and then I was being tackled by a bear sized man that I had missed more than I realised.

"Hello Emmett," I laughed and so did he.  
"I have waited so long to do that." His laugh shook us both.  
"Okay, you can get off me now." I couldn't wipe the grin off my face as I pushed him off me, which only led him to bear-hug me again when we were standing up again.  
"Alright Cullen, back off now." Dimitri growled defensively.  
"Bella…" Jasper started but I held up a hand cutting him off.  
"First of all it's Isabella not Bella. Second if you're going to say what I think you're going to then you can forget it. It's not your fault, I never thought it was." He stepped forward and circled his arms around my waist in a rigid hug that lasted barely a second.  
"Thank you," he smiled.  
"Bella, Isabella." Rosalie corrected herself. "Were you in the room earlier?"  
"Yep, I heard what you said." I answered the unanswered question.  
"I didn't mean it." She apologized, I think.  
"Yeah, you did. It's okay I appreciate that someone in the family is honest." I earned a half smile from her and I'm pretty sure that was an achievement.  
"Hey!" Emmett cried, offended.  
"Well, it's true. At least when I was human she hated me, the rest of you let Edward rip my heart out and then abandon me in a forest where I nearly died of hypothermia; so _that_ was fun." My words were met with three growls, all from the golden eyed vampires.

"What the _hell_ do you mean he left you in the _forest_?" Emmett snarled, more serious than I had ever seen him before.  
"Did you say hypothermia?" Jasper frowned, processing what I had said.  
"You didn't know?" I frowned.  
"I'll kill him myself." Emmett snarled in response.  
"You all followed him, how could you not know?" It was rhetorical and I was mostly thinking out loud but I got an answer anyway.  
"He told us you sent him away; you didn't want this life, that you were sick of putting your life at risk every day. You didn't want to become one of us. We couldn't not follow him," Rosalie answered.  
"You're kidding, right?" I hadn't wanted Edward's head on a spike up until now.  
"He said that it was my fault." Jasper added and I saw red.  
" _Your_ fault? You mean my birthday where _I_ cut _my_ finger in a house full of vampires? You're painted as the weakest when it comes to your bloodlust Jasper but what everyone fails to see is that you _feel everyone else's emotions_. You had seven times the amount of bloodlust in that house that night."  
"How do you manage to do that?" Jasper frowned, mind boggled.  
"What?"  
"You have answers you shouldn't even have had time to think of. Isabella, you are wiser beyond your years."  
"Well now I have the rest of eternity to be wise." I joked and Emmett guffawed. 

"What's with your eyes?" Rosalie asked after we'd been talking for an hour, I'd told them about everything that happened after they left up until now.  
"I don't know, they just look different that's all." I shrugged.  
"Have you got an ability?" Emmett asked next, I looked at Dimitri and he warned me with his eyes.  
"I'm a mental shield, but I'm pretty sure you knew that already."  
"That explains their frustration then," Rosalie smirked. "Edward was ready to rip his hair out when he couldn't read Aro's mind."  
"Trust me, I'm not sure he'd want to." I spoke before realising what had come out of my mouth.  
"Isa," Dimitri warned. "We should head back."

When we got back to the castle Felix left us in search of someone to fight with, the rest of us headed back down to Aro's office; once we were in hearing range we could hear Carlisle's voice in there with Aro. I froze, reaching for Dimitri's hand.  
 _Do you want to go in?_ He thought, I shook my head no.  
"Tell him we're back, and that I want to see Carlisle and Esme too. We'll be in my room when you're done."

 **drop me a review, trying to upload as quickly as my fingers can keep the story flowing!**

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	14. Reunion Round Two

**Hey! I've written a couple stories like this before but they were on a different account or a deleted them, oops! First one I've sat down to write in a looooong time.**

 **typical A/N being that i have zero rights to the Twilight story I've just pinched the characters for a little while. :)**

 **Also by this point in the story I'd lost direction a bit and ended up changing the direction of the story I was going in, hope you all still enjoy it! :)**

 _14 Reunion Round 2_

"How did we let you end up like this Bells?" Emmett asked, defeated.  
"Em, you didn't do this." I shoved him playfully.  
"We could have tried harder, we could have stopped him."  
"You couldn't have Emmett, he wouldn't have stayed even if we had chained him to that stupid piano. Don't make any of that your fault." Rosalie argued from the other side.  
"But, still."  
"No buts, look at it this way; if Edward had stayed we wouldn't be here now you'd all still be off where ever you were and I'd still be fragile little Bella."  
"We would have come back," he pouted.  
"No we wouldn't have." Jasper chimed in, honestly.  
"I would have at least tried." Emmett pouted.  
"Emmett you wouldn't have, you're telling yourself you would have because you feel guilty." Rosalie slid herself onto his lap, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and rubbing sympathetically.  
"You know I never thought I'd see the day where you two agreed on anything." He guffawed, Jasper snorted to stop the laughter.

"Aro, what is the meaning of this?!" Carlisle's enraged voice broke the silence that we'd fallen into.  
"Carlisle, come and you will find out." Aro, impatiently called. They were on this floor, there was only three rooms on the floor judging by the sound of their voices they had to be at the top of the stairs.  
" _Enough games,_ Aro!" Carlisle seemed to be getting angrier by the second.

"Jasper, would you mind uh?" I jerked my thumb to the door and judging by the looks on everyone else's faces he was oozing enough calm to soothe the entire town.  
"Alright, any calmer and I don't think we'll have to carry them through the door."  
"Sorry, got carried away." Jasper grinned.

When the door flew open we all sprung to our feet, Dimitri and Emmett taking slight steps in front of me as if I needed protection.  
"Oh for Christ sake, she's not a human!" Rosalie smacked Emmett upside the head lightly.  
"Hey!" He cried out in response.  
"Emmett?" Carlisle called, still not stepping into the room.  
"Rosalie?" Esme's soft voice called for their eldest vampire daughter.  
"Aro, what is the meaning of this? You're guard took them out hours ago!" Carlisle still continued to argue.  
"Carlisle, I'd suggest you just come in here." Jasper called, his southern twang peeking through.  
"Jasper?" Carlisle called as he rushed around the corner, Esme in tow with Aro trailing behind.

Even though Carlisle had come around the corner first, Esme seemed to notice everyone first. She grabbed Carlisle's arm as if to steady herself, he looked to her out of concern for his wife.  
"Carlisle," She breathed as if she'd seen a ghost.  
"Esme, love. What is it?" he placed his hands on her cheeks, caressing her face.  
"Bella," her voice cracked as if she were ready to cry.  
Carlisle turned back around, taking a protective stance in front of as looked over the rest of the room.  
"Impossible," he whispered under his breath. "Bella?" He squinted in disbelief or confusion.  
"Something like that, yeah." I muttered in response.  
"She goes by Isabella now." Jasper informed the pair.  
"How can this be?" Esme asked, baffled by what she was looking at.  
"If you let a human into our world, they have to be dealt with." Aro spoke almost too cheerily from behind Carlisle and Esme.  
"Is this it then, _this_ is our punishment?" Carlisle fumed.  
"I hardly think that _I'm_ a punishment." I retorted.  
"That's not what I meant Bella. Is this why you've brought us here, to see Edward's–" Dimitri's growl cut him off.  
"Best not to mention Edward and Bells in the same sentence, pops." Emmett advised watching Dimitri's expression darken.

"Bella, Isabella," Esme corrected herself. "May I?" She gestured forward, stepping around Carlisle wearing such a sad smile that it would have broken even the toughest of hearts.  
I stepped around Dimitri much to his annoyance, and we met half way. Her arms wound themselves around me; Esme was slightly shorter than me so her chin came to rest on my shoulder. If it hadn't been Esme and Jasper hadn't been standing in the room, I would have been terrified by the amount of love and affection that poured out of that one hug. While Esme poured every ounce of love into that hug, she was also filled with almost as much remorse. Carlisle's expression was stony and for as much remorse his wife carried, he carried the equivalent; except it was guilt instead.

Esme let go, returning to her mate's side; the air in the room grew tense as no one spoke a word. Everyone seemed frozen in time, not knowing whether to speak or stay silent so it was me who broke the silence.  
"I want to talk to Carlisle, and I want to do it alone." I emphasized the alone part.  
"Not happening, I'm not leaving you alone." Dimitri argued back.  
"You heard the lady, everybody out!" Emmett cried, grabbing Dimitri by the scruff of his neck as he pulled him by the neck towards the door.  
"That includes you, old me!" He joked as he passed Aro.  
"Watch it, Em." I laughed.  
"If you'll all accompany me back to my office, or perhaps you'd prefer to find Felix and others in the training room for a bit of light hearted combat!" Aro called after them as they walked ahead of him.  
"Training room it is!" Rosalie answered for everyone, except maybe Esme.

Carlisle and I spent at least five minutes watching each other in silence; he opened his mouth to speak at least twice before falling short. I folded my arms over my chest defensively.  
"You knew, didn't you?" I asked, barely above a whisper.  
He nodded yes.  
"Did Alice know?" another nod, but I knew that already.  
"You couldn't have tried to stop him?"  
"If I could have stopped him, we would not be here Bella." He answered after a minute or so.  
"You're the head of the coven Carlisle." I argued.  
"Edward can be very persuasive." He defended. "He starved himself for four months when we first met the Denali clan because he _wanted to go home_." He frowned, and felt more guilt.  
"So he throws tantrums like a child, abandons me in the forest where I proceed to almost die of hypothermia and you do nothing because he can be _persuasive_? Carlisle, really?"  
" _Hypothermia_?" He whispered in disbelief, falling back into the couch to my left.  
"I spent a week in the hospital, a twisted ankle and more than enough tears to fill an ocean that would compete with the Pacific. I ruined relationships with my mother and the friends I had, I barely managed to keep the one I had with Charlie afloat, I couldn't sleep without seeing my last meeting with Edward. The people that had become my family _abandoned me_ , without a single goodbye."  
"Oh Bella, I am so sorry." He leant forward, elbows on knees and head in his hands.  
"He told us you'd be fine, that .you didn't need us. We'd just be a distraction."  
"Well he was wrong."

Carlisle didn't respond remorse and self-hate was rolling off him in waves bigger than those caused by tsunamis. His body started to shake, almost like it was vibrating; his hands moved to cover his mouth, holding in the cries that would have otherwise escaped. I had made the great Carlisle Cullen come as close to crying as we could; and I felt like shit. I moved over to sit beside him, a hand resting on his shoulder trying my best to emit calm like Jasper had before; he tensed slightly, before falling into me as the shaking slowed.

"How did you do that?" He asked after probably twenty minutes.  
"Do what?" I played dumb, still aware of Aro not wanting people to know my talent.  
"You calmed me, and why are your eyes different; are you wearing contacts?"  
"No contacts, I woke up like that." I shrugged. "I think I'm lucky that I even _woke_ up."  
"What's that supposed to mean? What do you mean you were lucky to wake up?" He was in doctor mode, how I had missed that.  
"It took me seven days to change, Carlisle."  
" _Seven_ days? Are you sure? I've never heard of such a thing."  
"I mean, I'm not sure how long exactly but Aro and Dimitri were there the whole time and I was awake for most of it too." I sounded defensive, but I didn't mean to.  
"You were awake?" He was shocked.  
"I couldn't speak but I heard most of what was said throughout the days." I frowned, Carlisle wasn't saying it but there was something wrong with the way I became a vampire.  
"Did you feel the burning at least?"  
"I did, but it didn't feel like anything compared to the night with James." If it had been anyone else questioning me like this I would have grown impatient but next to Charlie, Carlisle was the one man that I put the most trust in.  
"Do you have a special ability?" He asked intently.  
"Abilities." I corrected after deciding to tell him everything.  
"More than one?" He continued his questioning.  
"I mean, I don't know if it's really more than one; Aro called me a collector. I have my mental shield but since meeting vampires with other abilities, I've collected their abilities too." I bit my lip, deciding whether to confess about using Jane's gift in the great hall.  
"That wasn't Jane in the great hall, was it?" Carlisle knew the answer.  
"No. I didn't mean to, I've only had the twins' gift for a couple of days and seeing him standing there; it hurt Carlisle." I admitted for the first time.  
"Bella, did Aro bite you? Was he your sire?" He had a look on his face, as if the idea light bulb above his head was switched on.  
"All three brothers did, two bites from each. Do you know something?" I sat up straight.  
"I have a friend who calls himself _the collector_."  
"The collector? Who is he?"  
"His name is Einar, I met him when I was in London two hundred years back. His eyes aren't like yours but he collects vampire abilities."  
"Einar? How do we find him?" I was eager to meet the only other possible vampire like me.  
"You don't. He won't come here." Carlisle stood up from the couch.  
"What, why not?" I followed him.  
"He's been on the run from the Volturi since I met him Bella. Einar might be the collector of vampire abilities but Aro is a collector of talented vampires, he's been after Edward _and_ Alice for as long as they've been in our coven too." We left the room and started our way back to Aro's office.

"Carlisle?" Edward's voice called from the bottom of the stairs.  
"Shit." I swore under my breath.

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